


Book 3: Choices

by Silvandar



Series: Legacy - OtaYuri Occult AU [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Climate Catastrophe, Climate Change, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, M/M, Medical Procedures, Minor Victuuri, Non-Explicit Sex, Rough Sex, Sex, mild implied medical torture, otayuri - Freeform, other canonical characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:35:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22402672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvandar/pseuds/Silvandar
Summary: Illforte Academy is a hidden sanctuary for a wide variety of occult creatures, human hybrids and people born with magical abilities. Taking students from 18 years old and upwards, it has been a haven for magical creatures for as long as anyone can remember. Within its walls, the inhabitants are safe... safe from the torches and pitchforks of the humans that is, not necessarily safe from each other.Now 21, Yuri's memory returns. Knowing the truth about his past lives, his relationship with Otabek, and the origins of Illforte and its secrets, he faces a choice he has faced time and time again... to go after the monstrous Yurabek, or to remain at Illforte with Otabek. An unbearable choice; to stay with the man he loves, or face the evil they unwittingly released upon the world.The conclusion to the Legacy series, "Choices" knits together the threads of past and present, as Yuri and Otabek move forward into an uncertain future.Book 3 / 3Visit theLegacy Discordto chat about the fic
Relationships: Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky
Series: Legacy - OtaYuri Occult AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1245668
Comments: 111
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> To all my readers, thank you so much for supporting this series. It means more than you know, and the hits, kudos and comments give me life and inspiration to keep writing!
> 
> New readers, you may enjoy this as a stand alone piece, but it will make a lot more sense if you start from book 1!

_Three years before Yuri's twenty-first birthday..._

Pain shot through his battered body as the incubus was pushed to his knees, and Christophe groaned through gritted teeth. The blows of the thugs who'd found him stealing supplies from the warehouse had left bruises and broken ribs, and his arms ached where they were twisted behind his back. As his captors spoke, he forced himself to try and focus his energy, knowing that his only hope was to seduce whoever they'd brought him before. Fixing his best, most sultry and helpless smile on his face, he looked up at the approaching figure. The smile froze, turning into a gape of shock and terror as the creature knelt in front of him for a better look.

“What have you brought me today, gentlemen?” the thing purred, tilting its head to the side. Christophe flinched back as a claw reached out to stroke down his cheek. “It looks damaged...”

“We found him stealing food from the central store... he set off the special alarm system, so we brought it to you.”

“Interesting. Leave us.” As the men left the room, the creature stood and prowled to one of the heavy leather couches, tucking its legs underneath it as it sat. Christophe's eyes were drawn to the tail that wrapped around the arm of the chair, distracting him until it spoke again.

“What are you? My alarm system detects magical threats... and you smell strange. Familiar, somehow... you're not human, nor are you a human with powers...”

Christophe deliberately reactivated his smile, stretching out as best he could despite the bruising and the restraints. Grateful that looking good while tied up was something of a speciality of his, he concentrated on keeping his breathing even, letting the hormones around him spread out through the room. This thing was humanoid and sentient... it was clearly magical, which meant it might be immune to him, but if not, he could affect it. Meeting the luminous, pale eyes, he decided keeping its interest was the most effective path, which meant sprinkling truth into the mix.

“I'm a hybrid,” he purred, sighing at the restraints and putting his head on the side. “Your men were most rough with me... normally something I'd enjoy, but they weren't really my type. I prefer my partners to be more like you... powerful, talented... dominant...”

“A hybrid of what?” the creature ran its claws over the arms of its couch, adding more scratches to the myriad of marks already there. Its tail twitched like a cat spotting a mouse, and Christophe fought back a shudder of fear.

“My mother was human... my father was a demon. They had an... interesting relationship.”

“Snow capped mountains... green forest... a deep, dark lake... ancient stones... the residue is still on your skin, in your breath...” the creature was suddenly beside him, its catlike muzzle pressed against his throat as it inhaled, claws sinking into his shoulders and drawing blood instantly. He bit back the cry of terror and forced himself to think, _think_ , before this thing ripped his head off.

“I... I came from the mountains! Months ago!” Unable to keep the tremor from his voice, he closed his eyes as the creature ran a rough tongue over his skin. He knew now that it was immune to his pheromones... unless he got his next words right, he sensed he was as good as dead. “I lived in a valley there... an old house by a lake...”

“ _Illforte... you came from Illforte...”_ the hiss was right in his ear and Christophe felt tears slip down his cheeks as he nodded, pain from the claws building as the hold on him made his bones creak.

“Y-yes... they... they imprisoned me... so I escaped...”

Suddenly the pressure was gone, and the thing was facing him again, tail twitching violently as it surveyed him. “What did you do that annoyed Yakov enough to imprison you?”

Yakov... it knew the house? “I... I played with one of his pet's favourite toys... he didn't like it...”

“His pet... let me guess... about 5'6'', annoyingly attractive, sheds on the rug?”

“You know Otabek?” The furious hiss at the name made Christophe flinch and he raised his hands in supplication. “Sorry, sorry... don't use the name, got it.”

“The toy you played with... how old was it?”

“S-sixteen...”

“MOTHER!” the thing roared, standing up and beginning to pace. At the shout, a woman entered the room and Christophe gaped at her arched brows and angular features.

“You... I've seen pictures of you...” Her look silenced him immediately, and she turned to the prowling creature.

“What's the matter?” her voice was calm and unafraid, giving an immediate sense of long association with the thing in front of her.

“He's _sixteen_ and already back at the house! How could that be?!”

The woman Christophe recognised from Yakov's old photographs frowned. “That's young... he's never returned so young before. Something must have changed.”

“Nothing can _change,_ ” the creature spat, fury etched across its inhuman face. “That's the whole _point_...” it stopped suddenly, eyes widening and the rage disappearing. “Unless...”

Lilia narrowed her eyes. “What are you thinking, Yurabek?”

“Perhaps he's finally ready... maybe that's what's changed... maybe he's finally ready to come back to me...”

She sighed, shaking her head. “Don't get your hopes up... he's rejected you thirteen times now...”

“You're talking about Yuri?” As he spoke, two sets of eyes fixed on him and Christophe gulped. Ignoring the warning shake of Lilia's head, he focused on the creature that was obviously in control. “I... I can tell you anything you want to know. Just... don't kill me... I'll be useful to you...” shoving away disgust at the thought of touching the creature, he gave it his most enticing look. “I'll be g-good to you... I have skills...” taking a deep breath, he braced himself and forced his shape to change, pulling on the energy of raw desire he could sense from the creature at the mention of the young witch. His form shifted and shrank, blonde hair falling to his shoulders and the restraints dropping from suddenly slender limbs. He watched the pale eyes widen, the tail freezing as the creature sank its claws into its palms.

Sitting down on the couch, the creature gestured for the incubus to approach him, and Christophe summoned up every memory he had of Yuri; the way he moved, the way his eyes flicked around the room as he assessed every situation, the way he nibbled on his lip when he was nervous. The creature's breath caught and it curled its lip, eyes dragging over him as the oversized clothes hung on his body.

“This is what he looks like now?”

“Looks... moves... feels... _tastes..._ ” Christophe ran his fingers through his hair, the lustful energy from the creature washing over him in waves.

“Yurabek... he's a _demon_... this isn't real...” Lilia sounded outraged, and the creature's lip curled in a soundless snarl.

“Get out, mother.”

As the woman left with a sound of disgust, Christophe caught the warning look from her and fought back a surge of panic as he slipped onto the creature's lap. He prayed that the things Yurabek wanted to do to this body weren't too painful... or fatal.

* * *

“You're playing a dangerous game, incubus.”

Back in his natural form, Christophe stopped trying to see the long scratches and deep bites on his back and shoulders, and shrugged. “Survival is always dangerous. That's the point.”

“He'll kill you eventually.” Lilia entered the rooms that had been assigned to Christophe and took a pot of healing balm from her pocket, turning the hybrid around so she could treat his wounds. He sighed as the cooling ointment went to work on the injuries, closing his eyes as the dull ache lessened.

“I don't fear death, or pain. There's only one thing that scares me.”

“And that is?”

“Hunger,” Christophe shuddered, and Lilia turned him to work on the damaged to his chest and legs. “The endless, maddening hunger that only a starving demon can feel. That's why I left Illforte... and why I want to stay here.”

“I don't understand,” Lilia admitted, pushing the pot into Christophe's hand for him to keep. “You're half human...”

“I'm demon enough that I need to feed on human energy. Mortal food isn't enough to sustain me.” He paced to the window and looked out over the city. “Out there, the humans are too busy dying of sickness and starvation to feel true lust, true desire. Their energy is weak... even when I managed to seduce one, I barely got enough energy back to maintain my powers. Without enough energy, hybrids wither and fade, our powers neutered, the agony indescribable. We don't die though... we just _exist,_ a shell of ourselves, too hideous to draw anyone to us to break the starvation.” Shuddering, he closed his eyes. “That's what Yakov condemned me to by imprisoning me... and it's why my hybrid friends at the Academy broke me out.”

Turning to Lilia, Christophe sat on the bed, watching the progress of the rapidly healing wounds. “Until I met Yurabek, I'd only encountered the amount of energy needed to fully change shape a few times. His desire, his lust... his loneliness... it's beyond anything I've seen before.”

“He's had two thousand years to work on it,” Lilia shook her head, looking around the rooms. “So you're going to be his sex slave until he decides to kill you?” Her tone was disgusted, but Christophe shrugged.

“I'm sixty four years old,” the hybrid stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes, the satiation from feeding off the creature's energy lulling him towards sleep. “I was fourteen when my mother sold me to my first owner... I've been bought and sold more times than I care to remember. Incubus and succubus hybrids are treasured pets in certain circles... most of the powers of a true demon, but anchored to this plane, and mortally vulnerable. Easy to control, and worth their weight in gold for the right buyer. At least this time, I got to chose my owner.”

Frowning, Lilia pulled the blanket over the sleepy hybrid. “If he gets bored of you, you're going to be passed around his inner circle like a piece of meat,” she warned, but he just grinned.

“Good. More food for me,” Christophe curled up, his breathing slowing and his muscles relaxing as he drifted into slumber. Impressed at his tenacity despite herself, Lilia switched off the lights and left the room, locking the door behind her and pushing the key underneath for him. No matter what he said or how cheerfully he accepted his fate, she felt the hybrid deserved to have at least one safe space in this hell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short update this week!

_Illforte, present day_

“I want to show you something.”

Yuuri Katsuki glanced up from his revision, the tone of his best friend bringing him to instant wariness. The blonde witch leaned against the doorway of Yuuri's room, eyes narrowed and expression pensive. Nodding, Yuuri closed his book and sat up straighter.

“You sound serious.”

“I...” pausing, Yuri Plisetsky forced a deep breath into his lungs, determination fighting with fear. “I've never shown anyone else this... not even Yakov... not _ever._ ”

The warlock's eyes widened as that sunk in. “Never as in... never in _any_ of your lifetimes?” Yuri nodded, and the warlock's expression crumpled. “Why now... why _me?”_

It was a good question, and the answer made the fear claw further up into Yuri's throat. “Why you? That's easy... you're the only person I trust who might actually be able to help me. Yakov's too old, and Otabek... well, you'll understand once you see it. As for why _now..._ ” shuddering, Yuri passed a hand over his eyes. “I think this might be my last chance... my last life. If I don't succeed this time... I may not get another chance.”

“There's a lot I don't understand... but if you think I can help you... if you're _sure_ you want to trust me, then of course I'll do everything I can.”

“It might kill you. It's killed me many times already.”

Yuuri chewed his lip. “Maybe that's because you always did it alone?”

Staring at him, Yuri gave a breathy chuckle, relief evident on his face at the prospect of unburdening some of his secrets. “Don't breathe a word to anyone about what you see. Not Victor, not even Otabek. _Especially_ not Otabek... I... I haven't decided what to do about him yet. It's complicated...”

“I promise. Show me.”

* * *

The library was early hours of the morning quiet, only a few students hunched over books that barely glanced up as the warlock followed the witch to a disused set of shelves. Ducking behind the musty books, he murmured in astonishment as Yuri touched a book and part of the wall obediently slid aside with a swish of counterweights. Beyond was a staircase lined with candles, lit by a wave of Yuri's hand as they descended.

“What _is_ this place?” Yuuri whispered as he stared at the heavy, bolted door at the base of the stairs.

“My vault,” Yuri gestured at the door and the locks moved, well oiled and silent as they responded to his spell. The door swung open to reveal a large, dark space, and Yuri stopped in the doorway.

“No-one besides me has entered this room in nearly two thousand years,” he fixed the warlock with a stern expression, and Yuuri found his mouth suddenly dry. “It contains everything I was, am, and will be... the history of thirteen lifetimes is hidden here, written in ledgers and captured in images. Once you enter, you'll be part of this... this nightmare.” Sagging, Yuri shook his head. “If you're going to change your mind about helping me, now's the time.”

“You can't seriously expect me to turn away from so much knowledge,” Yuuri's eyes gleamed, his hands twitching at his sides in his desire to see into the room. “I _am_ a warlock... forbidden knowledge is my thing, remember?”

Stepping through the huge arch, Yuri murmured a spell and the candles and lanterns lit themselves with a soft _whoosh_ , throwing illumination into all points. Yuuri followed him, drinking in the sight of the racks of shelves marching in orderly lines down the length of the room. Books and objects crammed every space, and pictures and photographs hung on every wall and vertical surface. The vault was easily twenty feet high, the ceiling hung with strange machines and skeletons of creatures Yuuri had no name for. The entire room smelled of incense and lemon, and showed signs of being recently scrubbed and cleaned.

“I come here when I need to think, or just want some space.” Yuri led the way through the room to the far end, and flicked a tongue of fire from his fingertips into the grate, igniting the embers. Stacking fresh kindling and coals on top of the lick of flame, he fought down an obscure nausea at the reality of having another person in the space. “Sometimes I can't bear to read, so I clean instead.”

Running his fingers over the thick books stacked beside the desk, Yuuri stared at the images along the back wall. “This is Yakov...” he crossed to the older pictures, recognising the style from Yakov's study. “Photographs?”

“Yes... very old ones.”

“The blonde man in these pictures...”

“Yuri Ivanov. You might recognise the pissy expression and weird coloured eyes.”

“Your first life... my god, Yuri... how long ago was this?”

“One thousand, nine hundred and forty two years ago. I was twenty, and we had just begun work on the house.” Standing beside the trembling warlock, Yuri folded his arms over his chest. “Are you alright?”

“I never... I mean... I...” Yuuri dropped onto the carpet, the strength going out of his legs as his body reacted to the shock. “ _You were one of the founders of Ilforte?!”_

“I thought you'd figured that much out already,” Yuri mused, leaning against the wall beside his picture. “We have a lot more ground to cover than I thought...”

* * *

A weretiger shaped lump filled one half of the bed, blankets pulled tight around it against the chill of the tower. Sighing, Yuri tossed fresh wood onto the fire before sitting next to Otabek and tugged his boots off.

“Are we still not talking?”

The lump moved in a shrug, and Yuri leaned against the bedhead, wrapping a spare blanket around his shoulders. Watching the flames rise in the grate, he listened to the steady huff of the weretiger's breathing, loud in the quiet of the room.

“I hate this.” Another shrug, and Yuri sighed. “I took Yuuri into the vault today.”

Otabek slowly uncurled from the blanket, his expression outraged and hurt. “ _You told Yuuri..._ but you still won't tell me...”

“I'll tell you.” Yuri closed his eyes as Otabek inhaled sharply, surprise replacing anger on his face. “You're going to hate it... you might not want to believe it... and you'll hate me for telling you. This may be the last time you ever want to speak to me...”

“Whatever you have to say, I can handle it...”

“No, you can't,” Yuri fixed Otabek with such a look of despair that the weretiger couldn't help but fold him into his arms. “It's too much... beyond anything you could imagine. It's...”

“Just start at the beginning,” Otabek murmured, and Yuri nodded, pushing himself upright, not pulling out of his embrace, but not relaxing either. He was almost braced for an attack, and Otabek murmured sadly.

“It started nearly two thousand years ago... a few decades after the Crash of 2053. Yakov and I, along with his wife Lilia, discovered this valley and decided to make a home here, away from the chaos of the human world. We built a smallholding initially, but somehow magical people began finding their way here, so we came up with the idea of building a house.” Taking a deep breath, Yuri laced his fingers through Otabek's, feeling the shock radiating off the weretiger.

“By the summer of 2086, there were over twenty people here and the house was starting to come together... and that's when I met the most important person in my entire life... in _any_ of my lives... That's when I met _you._ ”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> possible TW for body dysmorphia

The scent of weretiger alerted Celestino before the knock on the door, and he set aside his books with a sigh. If Otabek's nose hadn't been better than his own, he would have run away from this confrontation... he'd been avoiding the man ever since Yakov warned him that Yuri was likely to reveal the truth about their past. Now, he pushed his mane of hair out of his eyes and opened the door, wary and half expecting an attack.

“You knew.” It wasn't a question, but there was no aggression in the younger man's voice... or not so young, obviously. Celestino invited him in and crossed to the wall cabinet, pulling out a bottle of dark liquid.

“Scotch? My own brew, twenty years old.”

“You've never offered me a drink before,” Otabek sat heavily on the leather couch, looking around the room. He seemed twitchy and upset, but not the devastated mess the teacher had expected.

“You thought you were underage.”

Otabek snorted with laughter that quickly turned into a hiccuping sort of sob. Wordlessly, Celestino sat beside him and opened his arms, and the weretiger collapsed against him. The dhamphir knew that he was one of the very few people Otabek was comfortable touching, purely because he could withstand his massive strength. As the weretiger wept, the teacher held him and spoke soothing nonsense in Italian, feeling the immense pressure of the weretiger's grip on his arms as his control slipped.

Crying himself out, Otabek sat with his head on Celestino's shoulder, staring into the distance. He felt cleansed, as if the tears had swept away all the pain inside, leaving him hollow and tired. When he spoke, his voice was rough and dull.

“What am I like when I... forget? You've seen it, right?”

“Three times,” Celestino nodded, letting the weretiger settle against him for comfort. “The first time was a few years after I arrived here... I got here just after Yuri, and saw you two get together...”

“Yuri said we... we find each other every time. Like soulmates...”

“I couldn't understand why Yakov seemed so _sad_... the arguments after between him and Yuri after the witch Awakened were fearsome, but in the end Yuri left... and then you...” Taking a deep breath, Celestino forced himself to go on, despite the trembling of the man sat beside him. “You collapsed in the middle of a lesson. Just passed out cold, fell from your chair... it took five people to lift you, you're so damn heavy. I stayed with you until Yakov got to the infirmary, and his _face_... he knew, as soon as you collapsed, that Yuri was...”

“Dead.”

Celestino nodded miserably. “I'd never seen him that upset and angry before... it scared me. After that, he collected all the teachers together and explained that you would lose your memories, and that we had to prevent anyone from asking you questions or telling you _anything._ Yuri was always determined to protect you from pain, even after his death...”

Pushing himself upright, Otabek sniffed the whiskey and pushed it to the side, pouring himself a glass of water. “That must have been weird... for me to suddenly not know any of you...”

“It's like your memory stopped just before you left the mountains... as if everything to do with the house was just wiped away.”

“No,” Otabek shook his head, rising and crossing to the window. The valley glowed in soft moonlight, signs of evening life around the lake village and the scent of late spring in the air. He rested his head against the glass, Yuri's revelations still making his head hurt. “It's not the house... it's him. Yuri. I forget everything about him... he told me we built this house together, flooded the quarry together, built most of the older parts of the village... we patrolled the valley together... every inch of this place was ours, and so every time he dies, I lose everything. Everything that is part of him.”

“That's... does he know _why_? That's the one thing I've never understood... Yakov wouldn't tell us anything about the spell, only that it was a curse on Yuri. I never knew where it came from.”

Otabek closed his eyes, fighting the guilt and terror that had clawed its way into his soul at the mention of the abomination they'd accidentally created. “He did... but I can't tell you. I'm sorry...”

“It's fine. It's not the most important question, anyway. The real question is, why did Yuri chose to tell you everything _now?_ Yakov said he's never explained it to you, not in all the centuries of the cycle.”

Fresh tears slipped down Otabek's cheeks, and his hands clenched on the stone window ledge, powerful fingers pushing dents into the rock. “He told me because he thinks this might be his last chance... his last life. If he fails to... to break the curse... when he dies, he won't come back again... but the cause of it, the evil that's out there... He needs my help if he's going to have any chance of succeeding. He said I'm the one unknown variable.”

“What does that mean?”

Gazing back at the dhamphir, Otabek shivered with real fear. “He said in all the centuries, he's always faced the source of his curse alone... and it's always killed him. He refused to risk harming me, so he deliberately left me behind... but this time... he can't afford to lose again. He's throwing everything he has at it.”

“What happens if he does lose?” Celestino asked, subdued by the horror he could see in the weretiger's eyes.

“If we don't destroy the source of the curse, it will unleash something terrible... Ilforte will be the first to fall... but it won't stop there. Its destruction will spill over into the human world... and _everyone_ will suffer.”

* * *

Sweat dripped into Yuri's eyes as he fought to keep a huge globe of water undulating slowly a few feet above Phichit's head. The djinn threw occasional nervous glances upwards as he worked on fixing the blocked drainage system of one of the larger pools in the west tower. Manipulating nearly a ton of water into hovering out of his way was taking every ounce of Yuri's concentration and power, and his breathing was ragged from the effort.

“Done!” Phichit leapt out of the pool bed, and Yuri ground his teeth to hold on as he slowly lowered the water back into place. As he released the magic and the repaired drain gurgled into life, fatigue overwhelmed him and he slumped against the wall.

“You're getting better at that,” Phichit sat beside him and gave him an encouraging grin, and Yuri groaned.

“I still think you're mad, trusting me. If I'd dropped it, you'd have been killed...”

“You needed the motivation,” Phichit shrugged, “my untimely death was a good reason for you _not_ to drop it.”

“Is done?” Seung-gil leaned over to check the drain, ignoring the water sloshing over his robes. Phichit nodded, and beckoned for the merman to join him for a cuddle. Yuri snorted as Seung-gil rolled his eyes and sat gingerly next to the djinn, allowing the physical affection for all of two seconds before pulling away. Phichit made a happy noise, appreciative of the effort from his usually touch-shy boyfriend.

“Water's a lot harder than air,” Yuri raised his trembling arms, giving them an irritated glare. “This stupid body is so weak...”

“Your body,” Seung-gil pointed out, “make stronger?”

“I'm trying,” Yuri sighed, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes. “It's just so weird... I should be used to this by now, but it catches me off guard every time.”

“What was it like? Awakening?” Phichit had been curious for a while, but Yuri was usually reluctant to talk on the subject, so the djinn had been waiting for the opportunity to speak with him; all his friends had. The blonde curled his lip, face scrunching as he tried to find the words.

“It was a really vivid dream... one where you're _in_ it, feeling and thinking and experiencing everything. Waking up... I'm still not used to being only twenty one, and tiny.”

“So you're not the same person as before?”

“I am... but I'm not, as well. It's... urgh. I can't explain... I'm in my body, but my mind thinks I should look different than I do... sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and I don't recognise myself. It... it freaks me out.”

“Legs.” Seung-gil took in their looks of confusion, and dragged his robe up to reveal his feet. “On dry water, legs. On water, tail. More time on dry water, I get used to legs. On water, I get used to tail. When I change between...” he made a disgruntled noise, and Phichit nodded in sympathy. “Adjusting is long.”

Staring at the merman, Yuri felt a surge of guilt and anger at himself. “I'm so far in my own head, I barely notice what other people are dealing with,” he mused, and the djinn twitched. “What is it?”

“Otabek... he's been crying a lot,” Phichit said, refusing to make eye contact. “He... he thinks you don't love him any more... that you hate him for what happened.”

Yuri's mouth moved soundlessly as he tried to process that. “How... how much has he told you?”

“Not much... just that your curse was his fault...”

“ _For fucks sakes,”_ Yuri exploded, leaping to his feet and stumbling on the wet ground. “This is _exactly_ why I didn't tell him about the past... why I've _never_ told him...”

“Well what did you expect?” Phichit rose as well, heat flaring in his eyes. His sudden anger shocked Yuri into silence, and he stared at the djinn warily. “You drop all that history on him, and then just _disappear_ , hiding in your cavern with Yuuri and practising with your elemental magic, digging your old silver weapons out of storage and getting Guang Hong to reforge them... _preparing to go off and die again..._ and you haven't talked to Otabek _at all._ Can't you see how much it's hurting him?”

“I...” Yuri covered his eyes with his hand, whimpering softly. “ _I felt so guilty_ ,” he groaned, “telling him the truth, knowing he'd blame himself... I couldn't face him... and there's so much to do, to prepare for...”

“Bullshit,” Phichit snapped, “you don't want to take him with you. _That's_ why you're hiding... you told Yuuri it's probably the only way you can win, but you're _terrified_ it'll get him killed... so you're trying to make him hate you, so he refuses to go. It's cruel, Yuri... and it won't work. If you're not careful, he'll go by himself, to try and save _your_ life!”

“That's... he wouldn't... I...” Yuri spluttered helplessly, and Phichit raised an eyebrow.

“He's already packed,” he said, more gently. “Yuuri's keeping him at bay for now, but unless you _talk_ to him, he's going to make a stupid decision sooner or later.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update!! Ahhhhhh!! 
> 
> A certain person makes a return...

“What's the meaning of this?”

Otabek winced at the cutting tone, eyeing the blonde where he sat on their bed... well, the bed they had shared up until a few months ago, anyway. Beside Yuri, the carefully concealed backpack and hiking supplies Otabek had been gathering were spread around, a silent accusation.

“Are you going somewhere?”

Pulling the door shut behind him, Otabek folded his arms and leaned against the wall. No need for the entire tower to hear this fight.

“I'm going to Rome... to put an end to all this.”

Yuri's eyes narrowed, sparks flickering in the air around him as his temper flared. “By yourself? Are you insane?”

“You've tried it every other way... if I go alone, start once I've taken my potion and do most of the journey as a tiger... I can make it there before I need another dose.”

The backpack had been modified to be worn in tiger form, Yuri realised. Impressive engineering. “Yuuri helped you with this?”

“Very reluctantly. He's been trying to talk me out of it...”

“I have a plan, and it doesn't involve you...”

“That's what I'm afraid of!” Otabek's voice cracked, and he closed his eyes as he struggled to keep his composure. “You'll _die_ Yuri... like every other time. Why can't you see the truth?”

“What _truth_?” Yuri demanded.

“That this is _my fault_... and the only way it ends is with me...”

“With you dying? _Is that what you think?!_ That Yurabek will kill you, and somehow the curse will end?”

“Yes!” Otabek sagged, the fight leaving him abruptly as Yuri's expression crumpled and tears slid down his cheeks. Scrubbing them away angrily, Yuri rose and crossed to Otabek, cupping his face with his hands.

“You're wrong,” he murmured, quivering as he restrained the urge to shake some sense into the weretiger. “It's not your fault... none of it is...”

“How can you say that...”

“ _And even if it was,_ ” Yuri interrupted him, “Yurabek wouldn't kill you!”

“You told me he hates me...”

“He'd torture you! He's a _monster,_ Otabek... I haven't been able to face telling you all the things he's done to me... all the ways he's killed me... his magic is strong, he could keep you on the edge of death _forever_ if he wanted... and he _would._ Torturing you would be almost as good for him as me joining him willingly... Beka, you _cannot_ face him alone.”

“I can't stay here either!” Otabek pushed Yuri away, staggering over to his bed and collapsing onto it. “Being here... knowing you hate me... it's _killing_ me...”

“I _don't_ hate you!! I _love_ you, you stupid kitten...” Yuri sank to his knees in front of Otabek, watching the weretiger's expression shift as the pet name rolled off his tongue. “You're _everything_ to me... more now than ever before, because... because now you _know._ You know what I would do to protect you... what I _have_ done... and you _still_ don't hate me.” Burying his face in Otabek's shirt, Yuri's body shook as the sobs broke free. “I've been afraid that you'd hate me for so long... so many lifetimes of loving you, and leaving you...”

“Yura...” Otabek wrapped his arms around the weeping man, pulling them down onto the bed and kicking the backpack away. “Oh, Yura... you've been alone in this... all this time... how could you stand it?”

“I... I knew I'd get to see you again, to live without the knowledge again, even if it was just for a little while... it was _always_ worth it, knowing I'd find my way back to you.”

Closing his eyes, Otabek pressed his face against Yuri's hair as they soothed each other, tears eventually turning to kisses, soft at first before the absence of touch from the last few months took over. As comfort gave way to longing, Yuri held the weretiger at bay for a moment.

“Promise me you won't do anything without talking to me first...”

“Yuri... I...”

“ _Promise me.”_

“Only if you promise that you won't leave without me, either! I'm going to Rome, one way or the other... I'd prefer it if we had a plan, but if you try and cut me out...”

“OK... OK, Beka... I promise.” Yuri pulled the weretiger into a tighter embrace, forcing all thoughts of their future out of his mind as they let desire take over their motions. Whatever was going to happen, they would face it together. It might be the only way to win.

* * *

Untangling himself from the embrace of his sleeping companion, Christophe wrapped a robe around himself, wincing at the fresh scratches and bites that covered his body. Despite the pain, he felt satisfied and full, the intense energy of the creature he shared a bed with providing him with as much nutrition as he wanted. So many centuries of frustration and solitude had built up a store of lust, which the incubus hybrid tapped into using his ability to take the form of whatever his partner wanted most. Brushing his shoulder length blonde hair out of his eyes, Christophe stepped carefully into the shower, curling his lip as the water ran red with fresh blood from his many wounds. He considered it a small price to pay for shelter and food.

Voices in the main suite got his attention when he emerged, injuries cleaned and tended with the balm Lilia provided him. Pausing at the door, he cocked his head and listened, the irate tone of the creature peaking his curiosity.

“This is the third rejection... what went wrong this time?”

“We're not sure... we're investigating,” a voice he knew as the male twin, Michele, replied nervously.

“ _Investigating..._ you mean you're trying to figure out a way that it wasn't your sisters fault.”

“That's!” A meaty thud cut off Michele's hot retort, and Christophe winced at the sudden scent of fresh blood. “I... I'm sorry...”

“Go and fix the problem,” the creature snarled, and Christophe clearly heard Michele whimper as he scuttled out. There was a pause, then: “you may as well come in, Yuri.”

 _Yuri..._ Christophe forced himself not to shudder at the name. Yurabek had called him that ever since he'd demonstrated his ability to change shape. He was sure it was the reason he was still alive... that Yurabek could forget he wasn't the _real_ Yuri, at least for the most part... when he did remember, his rages were terrifying, and Christophe had learned when to take a beating, and when to hide. Allowing Yurabek to abuse him would sometimes calm him down, other times it just made him angrier, and hiding was the only safe option.

Pushing the door open, he opened with an apology. “I didn't mean to eavesdrop... I...”

“Irrelevant,” Yurabek waved a hand, anger simmering on his inhuman face. “You heard it... so now you're curious, yes?”

“I...” _yes, but not enough to risk my life._ “It's none of my business.”

“Correct answer.” Yurabek beckoned, and Christophe flowed into his lap with a happy murmur, recognising the desire for attention in the other's motions. Stroking the soft, black fur of Yurabek's mane, he closed his eyes and rested his head on the creature's shoulder.

“I'm just happy you let me stay here... that you take care of me.”

“You know I'm going to kill you eventually, right?”

Christophe made himself continue soothing his lover, nuzzling Yurabek's throat as he replied. “If that's what you want to do... I can't stop you, so why worry about it?”

“Why aren't you horrified by me?”

The incubus shrugged. “I've seen far worse things than you, my love. You have your dark moods, but so does everyone.”

“My face... my body... you're very good at hiding your disgust.”

“What disgust?” Christophe sat back, tilting his head to the side, genuinely confused. “Your fur is soft, and your energy tastes like salted caramel... I think you're unique, and very attractive. Just because _humans_ don't see it...”

“Humans... I forget, sometimes... when you look like this, I forget you're not him. Not _human._ ” Christophe tensed, aware that this train of thought was often dangerous territory. “Change back... back to who you really are.”

Raising an eyebrow, the incubus complied, watching Yurabek's white eyes rove over his scars. The burns Yuri had inflicted on him were healed, but the damage would never disappear completely; his face, shoulder and upper chest were twisted and seared red by the witch's flames.

“Do you hate these?” Yurabek ran the pads of his fingers over the scars, and Christophe shook his head.

“They're a reminder of the price of failure... and carelessness.”

“As is mine,” Yurabek touched his shirt, where Christophe knew he bore a scar of his own.

“You never told me what happened...”

“Yuri... he stabbed me with a silver dagger. Mother was the only reason he didn't cut my throat as well.” Yurabek leaned back, eyeing the hybrid. “Sometimes, when you look like him, that pain and rage rises up in me, and I lose my temper... that's why I'll kill you, in the end.”

“I'm your toy,” Christophe shrugged, refusing to show any of the terror clawing up his insides as he deliberately changed back into Yuri's shape. “If you decide to kill me, you won't get to play with me any more.”

“True,” Yurabek pulled the hybrid back into his arms, a purr beginning to rumble in his chest at the feel of blonde hair under his fingers. “It would be _such_ a shame to waste you...”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: medical procedures, implied medical torture. Check updated tags! 
> 
> Urgh, another late update, I'm sorry! Life is kicking me in the tits and I keep forgetting what day of the week it is! Please tolerate this frail and useless human :(

Following the sound of voices, Christophe wandered through the dusty corridors of the building. Once many stories tall, now the only functional areas were the first three floors where he and the others lived, and the extensive basement. Rounding a corner, he shrank back against the wall as he saw the twins arguing. Michele's head snapped round at the movement, and he put his hands on his hips aggressively.

“This area's off limits! Show yourself!”

Stepping into view, Christophe raised an eyebrow. “Off limits?”

“Oh, it's _you..._ ” Michele's voice dripped venom, but his sister smiled warmly.

“We haven't met yet... I'm Sara. You know my brother?”

“Stay away from him, Sara! He's Yurabek's fuck toy... god knows what it'd do if it thought you were flirting with him...”

“You call Yurabek 'it'?” Christophe pulled a face. “That's pretty disrespectful to your boss.”

“Tch,” Michele turned away, heading deeper into the complex below the building. “It's _not_ my boss... I work for Lilia. Stay away from that slut,” he added to his sister, and Christophe smirked.

“Worried for your sister's virtue?”

“Why you...”

“Leave him alone, Mickey! I'll catch up with you in a bit.” Sara pushed her brother off down the corridor, and turned back to Christophe. “Sorry about him... he's overprotective.”

“He should be,” Christophe winked at her, “I'm a terrifying predator, don't you know.”

“Sure, sure... I'm pretty sure I can handle you,” Sara laughed, making a gesture in the air. Christophe raised an eyebrow as a rune glowed brightly for a moment, then burst into tiny fireworks.

“Neat trick. Are you a mage or something?”

“Rune caster,” Sara smiled, “and very gay, so you're doubly out of luck.”

Christophe smirked. “I can work around that... I'm so juiced these days I can pretty much change shape at will.”

Raising an eyebrow, Sara gave him a speculative look. “If Yurabek gets bored with you, I might take you up on that...”

“Hah,” suppressing a shudder, Christophe shook his head. “The day Yurabek gets bored with me, I'll be cat food. I'm amazed I've lasted this long, to be honest.”

“You seem resigned to your fate.”

“What choice do I have?”

“You could run away?”

“And go where? Rome belongs to Yurabek, and I'd never make it to the next populated area without starving to death... I barely made it here.”

“So you're stuck here, just like us. Maybe you need to make yourself more useful to Yurabek than just a toy?”

Tilting his head to the side, Christophe frowned. “What did you have in mind?”

“You're some kind of a shapeshifter... I've never come across one of those before. I'd like to analyse you, if I may?”

“I'm an incubus. A demon hybrid,” he added, seeing Sara's blank look.

“Even more interesting! Come with me to the lab, and let me poke and prod you... it won't hurt much, I promise.”

* * *

“What is this place?” Christophe stared around the laboratory, skin crawling. Blue and green light filtered through huge tanks rippling with fluids, _things_ pierced with tubes and catheters undulating slowly. Sara glanced around, then pointed to a tank against the far wall.

“The future,” she said, and Christophe approached it cautiously, recognising the black streaks against sodden white fur.

“Yurabek?”

“Clones,” Sara tapped keys, and a bank of medical equipment slid from the wall nearby. “That's the problem, actually.”

“I... I don't understand...” Christophe watched as she bustled about, taking painless samples of his hair and fingernails. Opening his mouth obediently for a swab, he watched Sara's hands work. “You've done this before.”

“Hundreds of times. We've tried every race, gender, and supernatural creature Yurabek's managed to obtain. I didn't realise you were so special, or I'd have had you down here years ago. Mickey was probably too worried you'd seduce me, and Yurabek rarely gets actively involved in the science side of things. His job is more magical in nature.”

“Years ago... how long have you been working on this?”

“Lilia's been building this project for centuries. I've been here about ten years.”

“This is Lilia's idea?” Gazing at the tanks full of clones in various stages of growth and disassembly, Christophe shivered. “I thought she was one of the sane ones in this place...”

“It's _Yurabek's_ idea. Lilia's helping him, that's all.”

“What do you get from it?”

“The same as you... protection, shelter, food... plus Yurabek knows I'm fairly irreplaceable, so he doesn't threaten us too much.”

Wincing as a needle slipped under his skin, Christophe looked away as blood samples were taken. “What exactly are you trying to achieve here? Does Yurabek want an army or something?”

“You understand that Yurabek's essentially immortal, yes? He can barely be damaged, and he can't die?”

“I have no idea _why_ , but yes, I'm aware.”

“Part of his... condition... is that he can't reproduce. Not only does he lack... well, you'd know about that better than me... he's also sterile, so there's no base to work from for genetic engineering. He's the only one of his kind in the entire world.”

“So he's trying to create more like him?” Baffled, Christophe rose and rested his fingers against the glass. “How was _he_ made?”

“That's the problem... the circumstances of his creation were unique, and accidental. At first he tried to replicate it, but it never worked, just killed a lot of were-creatures and a lot of witches. Eventually he came up with the idea of replicating himself as he is _now_ , but that... hasn't successful. So far.”

“He's using magic to do all this?” Christophe gestured at the room, but Sara shook her head.

“Cloning technology from before the Crash. He spent centuries excavating in the old cities, travelled across the world with Lilia looking for information, equipment... he set up in Rome, tapping into the remaining infrastructure and taking over the gangs to build a militia. I still don't know why he chose Rome, but I'm glad he did. Mickey and I were in Naples, scratching out a living with the drug cartels there. He found me and brought us here.”

Christophe eyed the floating clones, fighting down another shudder. “I know why he chose Rome... it's the closest population centre to Illforte. It makes it easy for Yuri to find him.”

“Yuri... I've heard that name before. Isn't he Yurabek's ex boyfriend?”

The bark of shocked laughter from the incubus made her raise an eyebrow, then she hurriedly caught him as the strength went out of his legs. “That took long enough,” she sighed, and Christophe blinked up at her, vision swimming.

“What've you... done... to...me...” he slid to the floor against one of the tanks.

“Just a bit of sedative in one of the needles,” she ran her fingers over his chest and runes popped against his skin, lifting him into the air and floating him towards a workbench. As she fastened cuffs around his legs and arms, he felt the bite of silver in the lining and whimpered helplessly.

“S-stop...”

“Don't worry, this won't kill you.” Sara turned, slipping a surgical mask over her face as she looked down at the incubus. “I just need some _internal_ samples from you... nothing too invasive, and you'll heal up fine... after all, I might need some more one day. Just think,” she added, beginning the process of cutting away his clothes, “you're so much more useful to Yurabek now! Isn't that nice?!”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm updating on time for once!! Shocker, I know XD
> 
> If anyone is from the MDZS / The Untamed fandom, I've started a little [XueXiao twitter modern dorm au](https://twitter.com/SassyGothHippy/status/1234599110176595974) which is turning out to be great fun. Please go have a look!

Yuuri Katsuki prowled through the corridors of Illforte, ignoring the chattering of younger students moving from class to class. Ahead of him, his target was unsuspecting of his ambush, chatting happily to the head prefect of West Tower.

“I need to talk to you,” he gripped Phichit's arm, tugging the Djinn away from his boyfriend. The merman raised an eyebrow, and Yuuri shook his head.

“Come to the tower later,” Seung-gil requested, and the Djinn nodded. As the merman left, he sighed dramatically.

“He's so beautiful...”

“Yes, you've said. Repeatedly. You've been together for years, you're still swooning over him?”

Phichit gave Yuuri a curious look. “The same as you are with Victor... what's the matter? You're uncharacteristically bitchy today.”

The warlock scrunched his nose unhappily. “I need to talk to you. Not here.”

“OK...” Phichit went quiet as he was led through the library, watching with wide eyes as Yuuri activated a hidden doorway to reveal stone stairs winding down into the earth. Following the warlock through a massive door, he stared around at the bookshelves is wonder.

“What is this place?”

“My vault,” the voice was muffled. Yuuri sighed, tugging Phichit's hand until they reached a corner of the huge room and found the blonde Yuri digging around in an old chest. The muffled voice was caused by a cloth pressed over his face, and Phichit waved away a cloud of dust.

“What are you looking for?” Yuuri asked, sitting on an overturned crate. Phichit found himself short of words, eyes drawn to the walls of pictures that told the history of the young witch.

“This!” Yuri pulled himself out of the chest, brandishing a huge iron key. “It's been lifetimes... I knew I'd thrown it somewhere...”

Stalking across the room, he began yanking aside stacks of books and dusty pieces of equipment. After a few moments, the others joined him and soon excavated a massive oak cabinet that took up an entire corner of the vault. Sliding the key into the lock, Yuri paused and a complicated expression crossed his face.

“Yakov and I gave up looking at this stuff centuries ago. We couldn't get any more out of it, and the samples were starting to degrade badly. I don't know how much will be left...” turning, he fixed Phichit with a desperate look. “Yakov says you're the best alchemist he's ever seen, that your abilities as a djinn mean you can almost replicate _scientific_ techniques. Yakov was always educated, but the loss of technology made it harder and harder to get decent results...”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Phichit rested his hand on Yuri's shoulder, his deep brown eyes soft and sympathetic, “but if I can help, I will.”

“Thank you...” Yuri closed his eyes, “what we stored in here is all that's left of the original samples we took... and Yakov's notes, of course. Everything in here is nearly two thousand years old... the preservation spells on most of it are probably nearly exhausted as well. I want... please... I want you to look over it all, see what Yakov and I missed. I need to _understand_...”

“What about me?” Yuuri asked, and the blonde witch nodded. “You and I are going to go over a certain ritual with a fine tooth comb,” he explained. “The notes on it are also in here... we're going to reconstruct it, if we can, and try to understand exactly how it works.”

“What ritual?”

Yuri sighed, running a hand through his hair as memories of pain and death shivered in the back of his mind.

“My curse.”

In the shocked silence that followed, Yuri unlocked the cabinet and stepped back, pulling the doors open.

* * *

Otabek paused at the entrance to the vault, trying to calm his racing pulse. The first time Yuri had brought him here, a few weeks after they'd talked _properly_ , the experience had been harrowing. Seeing the images of himself stretched across centuries, he'd bolted from the room and thrown up right in the middle of the library. He'd only been back a few times since, feeling more and more out of his depth each time.

Steeling his nerves, he stepped through the door and followed the sound of voices. Yuri had asked him to come, explaining that Phichit wanted some samples from them both to analyse. Even though he knew what the djinn was doing, it still made him sick to the stomach when he saw the mini laboratory that had been set up in a corner of the room.

Books and flasks covered the table, and looming in the background was an enormous cabinet with hundreds of drawers and boxes, glowing with runes that indicated powerful spells on the various things held within. The stink of chemical preservatives made Otabek's nose itch, and he tried not to identify the _things_ floating in jars.

As Phichit took hair and painless skin samples, Yuri sat on the edge of the table and explained what they were looking for. “Your body is pretty much unchanged since the day of my curse. Phichit thinks he can compare your samples with... _its_... to help him understand how it was made.”

“You're looking for Yurabek's weaknesses?”

Yuri nodded, looking unhappy. “I wish you wouldn't use that name.”

“Two thousand years, and you still refuse to acknowledge that he is a living creature, preferring to describe him as an _it_ , and refusing his name. Honestly, what do you hope to achieve by doing that, Yuri?”

Everyone looked up at the newcomer, and Yuuri and Phichit quickly rose to pay respect. Yakov made an irritated gesture to send them back to work, and raised an eyebrow at his adopted son.

“It's habit by now,” Yuri shrugged, “what are you doing here, old man?”

“Such disrespect... I felt the wards on the cabinet break, so I thought I should check. Since you're letting everyone and anyone in here now, I didn't think you'd mind.”

Yuuri blushed, and shook his head. “Sorry Headmaster... I needed to get some of the samples out, and the wards were quite weak... I broke them by accident.”

“Since you're playing with this stuff again, do you want my help?” Yakov flipped pages of a notebook, pulling a face at his own messy handwriting.

“No...”

“Yes!” Phichit interrupted, throwing a scowl at the witch. “Notes and samples are helpful, but being able to discuss the original observations is _invaluable._ You gave this job to me,” he added, as Yuri tried to protest, “so don't interfere. Just get on with your own work, and leave me be.”

Otabek chuckled as Yuri's expression darkened, smoothing the frown lines on his forehead with a kiss. “He's right... lets leave them to it, OK?”

* * *

The five of them fell into a routine. Once lectures were done for the day, they'd drift into the vault and continue their tasks. Phichit and Yakov spent hours in front of the fire, reading through the warlock's extensive notes and discussing theories. At the other end of the room, Yuri and Yuuri set up a warded space and began reconstructing Yurabek's curse ritual, based on Yuri's memories of the magic circle, the runes drawn on his body, and the ingredients used.

Finding himself at a loss after the initial samples were given, Otabek appointed himself the task of keeping everyone working on the projects healthy. He didn't interrupt them while they were busy, but he became very good at slipping mugs of soup and tea into their hands, and keeping a section of the vault full of fresh snacks for them to pick at. At nine every evening, he shooed them all out of the vault and upstairs for dinner, and at midnight he'd return and physically lock them all out, making them go to bed. After the first protests were stoically ignored by the weretiger, the others gave up and let him organise their time.

Otabek filled the rest of his time with cleaning, and somehow found himself making an inventory of the contents of the vault. Yuri's own records had stopped somewhere around his third life, and he had just started throwing things onto shelves and into boxes. Even before that, his storage system had been chaotic at best, and the weretiger frequently found his boyfriend exclaiming over things he'd unearthed. Sometimes the things he found were dangerous, and Yuri scolded him firmly for handling them without due care.

A cry of pain echoed through the vault, and all four humans raced to the source, discovering Otabek leaning against a bookshelf. A sheen of sweat covered his face, and his hand was held in front of him, burned and painfully red. Yuri cursed and forced a pill between Otabek's clenched teeth, holding his wrist gently until the painkiller kicked in.

“What did you touch...”

“On... on the floor... knife... _silver_...”

Astonished, Yuri stared at the weapon that had skittered underneath a bookshelf when Otabek dropped it. “Don't touch it!” he ordered, and Yuuri froze in the process of retrieving it.

“Is that...” Yakov bent and his usually stony expression changed to one of astonishment. “Yuri...”

“I didn't even know it was in here,” Yuri breathed, turning his focus back to Otabek. “Yakov, it might still have...”

“I know, I know...” the warlock gestured Yuuri out of the way and carefully retrieved the dagger. As he brought it into the light, they could all clearly see the dried blood on the blade.

“I need to treat Otabek's injury,” Yuri said, supporting the weretiger as best he could. “Be very careful with that... it's the only thing that's _ever_ been able to wound Yurabek. I thought Lilia had destroyed it... I have no idea how it ended up in here.”

“We cleared out her suite when it was clear she wasn't coming back,” Yakov's voice was rough, alarmingly close to tears. “It was too painful... you just dumped her stuff in here and forgot about it. I'm guessing the dagger was hidden amongst her things.”

“Go through _everything_ in this section,” Yuri instructed, “once I've healed Otabek I'll come back and help.”

“I'm fine...” Otabek tried to protest, and Yuri pointed a warning finger at him.

“Don't you dare,” he snarled, and the weretiger looked guilty. “You can't heal silver wounds on your own, and I can imagine how much that hurts. Let me look after _you_ for once,” the witch added, and Otabek blushed.

“As you wish,” he murmured, letting Yuri lead him from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that was a Princess Bride reference <3 one of my favourite films!


	7. Chapter 7

A week later, the little research group gathered in the middle of the vault. The area had changed considerably; no longer full of bookshelves, dust and clutter, it had been swept clean and a large magic circle carved into the floor. Within the circle were the specimens from the cabinet, along with various potions, samples and ingredients. In the centre, lying on a low table with its own little magic circle around it, was the silver dagger.

The blade was dull, with two different shades of deep red blood dried along its length. A gap ran between the smears, as if something invisible had worked to keep them from mingling or mixing. Yuri narrowed his eyes, looking to the warlocks for an explanation. They both shrugged, and Phichit cleared his throat.

“Let's start with the basics,” he raised a finger, and a figure coalesced in the air above the dagger. Tall and long limbed, a sinuous tail wrapped around its thigh, the figure had pallid flesh streaked with black, and a black mane covering it's head and shoulders, dipping almost to the middle of its back. Catlike ears topped its head, and its face was a feline mask, long fangs jutting from its lips. Only its eyes appeared human, although they were white on white, pupils like slitted black holes. Yakov muttered a soft oath, and Yuri flinched at the sight of it. Only Otabek stepped forward, almost to the edge of the magic circle as he stared up at the figure.

“Yurabek...”

“Step away!” Yuri growled, but Phichit made a soothing gesture.

“It's only an image, it's not real. Just magic,” he explained, although he stopped Otabek from trying to reach out. “Don't cross into the circle please,” he added, “it will disrupt my casting and I'll have to start again from scratch.”

Stepping back with a murmur of apology, Otabek reached blindly for Yuri and the blonde enclosed the weretiger in his arms. At twenty one, Yuri was nearly a head taller than his boyfriend, and Otabek rested his cheek against his shoulder.

“So that's what he looks like...”

“Mmm,” Yuri curled his lip, fighting back shudders. Memories flooded him of dying by those hands, being torn by those teeth. “Do we need the show and tell?” he demanded, his voice rough.

“Sorry, but bear with it for a moment,” Phichit gestured, and the figure turned in a circle, allowing it to be seen from all angles. “To understand Yurabek's composition, I had to do a number of things. Firstly, fully grasp the nature of the original ritual. Not just what you were trying to achieve, but also the _way_ you were trying to do it. Yakov's notes were invaluable, but more important were the samples taken from Yurabek directly after its creation.”

The figure shimmered and a small cross section of flesh appeared beside it. The images reminded Yuri of his anatomy textbooks, and he immediately understood why Phichit was showing them in this way. The djinn had created visual breakdown of the creature, labelling parts as if dissecting a frog.

“Skin, muscle and hair samples were compared to corresponding samples from Otabek and Yuri,” Phichit gestured again, and more cross sections appeared dotted around the figure. “They all showed the same result; over and over again, the samples were copies of Otabek, with only two exceptions. On each sample, the healing factor and capacity to conduct magic was vastly increased.”

The display changed, and now a much larger image of the dagger floated in the middle. “This gave me the missing piece of the puzzle,” Phichit continued, “when Yuri attacked Yurabek, he struck hard and true. Within the sample of blood, I found bone fragments.”

“You didn't take _bone_ samples from Otabek...?” Yuri sounded furious, but Otabek soothed him.

“My hand was already injured, the burns on my fingers were slow healing... I volunteered.” Yuri looked mutinous, but Otabek shushed him. “Go on, Phichit.”

The djinn looked awkward, but nodded. “The bone samples showed the first real difference between the two of them. Otabek's bones are thick and dense, hard to break or even chip... ah... the samples from Yurabek were different. Softer, more pliable... more like human bone.”

“So his bones are his weakness?” Yuuri sounded incredulous, and Phichit shook his head.

“Not really, since they're covered with all that tough muscle and skin. I estimate they'd heal about the same rate as human bones, but would be protected almost instantly by the external regeneration. But it made me wonder; _why_ were they different?”

An image of an eerily familiar ritual circle appeared, and Yakov grunted. “Pretty decent reconstruction,” he admitted, and Phichit blushed.

“The original spell had one purpose; to remove the aconite toxin from Otabek's body, and transfer it into the poppet Yuri created. To do that, Yakov used a transference circle overlaid with a protective outer circle, and Yuri provided the power from his own magic. Otherwise, Yakov would have to have used a demonic power source, which would have been insanely dangerous to Otabek. Although this was a warlock ritual, it used a human as the power source instead of a demon. It should have been safe.”

A small flower floated within the image, and Yuri curled his lip. Phichit sighed, sadly. “This is what started the chain reaction which led to the creation of Yurabek. The sample of Aconite used in Otabek's potion at that time contained a second source of magic. Uncontrolled life magic, used to grow it to maturity more rapidly. Although Yuri and Yakov were aware of it, their attempts to counter it within the transference circle weren't effective. A small amount of that second source of power was transferred to the poppet. That combined with the magic Yuri used to prepare the poppet in the first place, plus the power from Yuri himself within the ritual, to give form and thought to the essence of life.”

“The poppet was made using Otabek's fur and blood...”

“Blood contains the elements needed to make any part of the body,” Phichit nodded, “so that still begs the question why Yurabek's bones are different. My theory is, they actually weren't different, originally. They were _made_ weaker by something. Something working deep within Yurabek, something that's a part of him. Something that constantly works against him from the inside, and is only countered by the extreme healing factor and magical ability...”

“The aconite??” Yuri was astonished, eyes wide. “ _He's partly made from aconite?”_

 _“_ Exactly. That's what gives him the excessive healing factor and the magical ability; the residual life magic from the aconite that is part of his very flesh. At the same time, it eats away at him from the inside, constantly weakening him. His body heals incredibly fast to work against it, which gives the appearance of constant regeneration.”

“Flesh and blood is replaced quickly,” Yakov crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his finger against his cheek. “Bones are replaced much slower, so would suffer more degradation before they regenerate. His natural cycle of replenishment is accelerated by the life magic that is powering his body.”

“What does that _mean_ , exactly? I mean,” Yuri realised he sounded ignorant, and shook his head. “How does that help us to kill him?”

“Did all the centuries of reincarnation warp your IQ?” Yakov demanded, and Yuri flushed darkly. “It means, my idiot child, that we now _understand_ his healing factor.”

“Which means we can counter it,” Phichit finished, looking triumphant.

In the stunned silence that followed, Yuuri cleared his throat. “I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you've accounted for his healing factor. His magic is something else entirely. Yuri's reports over the years have all been very clear; even the strongest runes can't counter it, no amount of suppressing or blocking has made a difference, not from any school of magic. Unless you can negate that, he won't _need_ to heal, because he'll crush you like a bug before you get close enough to cut him.”

“That won't be a problem,” Otabek straightened up out of Yuri's embrace, a dark smile on his face. “Most magic doesn't work on weres, remember?”

 _“You're going to attack him head on??”_ Yuuri sounded aghast, but Otabek just shrugged.

“Were's heal from magical attacks just fine, if they manage to do any damage in the first place. Were claws and teeth are about the only things that will hurt us. If Yuri can remove his ability to heal, I can take him to pieces and he won't be able to do too much to retaliate.”

“Isn't he also a were though? He managed to hurt you before...” Yuuri wondered aloud.

“In all Yuri's experiences with him, fighting him down the centuries, not once has he recorded that Yurabek can change shape.” Phichit gestured, and the image of the dagger returned. “When Otabek picked up the dagger, the silver burned him and his blood splashed on the blade. From Lilia's medical notes, Yurabek had the same reaction when he was stabbed with it. I managed to stop the two samples from contaminating each other, and observed the reaction of Otabek's blood to continued exposure to the silver. The blood _boiled_ , reducing down until it was in almost exactly the same state as the dried sample of Yurabek's blood already on the dagger... _almost_ the same. Otabek's blood did something different; the composition changed in a way Yurabek's didn't. I checked at the last full moon; Otabek's blood in tiger form is slightly different composition to his blood in human form. Probably something to do with the amount of oxygen his body needs as a tiger... I digress,” Phichit noticed the blank looks on their faces and trailed off...”

“So you're saying you don't think Yurabek can shapeshift?”

“Correct. Which means his claws and teeth are restricted to the limits of _this_ body. We have a rough idea of his physical strength, and we know from your observations that his measurements haven't changed in the last thousand years, at least. I think we can make a decent guess that he _can't_ change... he can't age, he can't grow, he can't shapeshift. What we see is what he's got. The only unknown is his magic, which is were Yuuri and Yakov come in... but in short, in tiger form, Otabek should be faster, stronger and much more dangerous than Yurabek, at least physically.”

“If I'd taken Otabek with me at the start...” Yuri's voice was hollow, and Phichit immediately turned and grabbed the witch by the shoulders, shaking him gently. “ _Don't even start thinking like that,_ ” the djinn growled. “Even if you'd been able to work out half of this – which you _couldn't_ given the available information and abilities at the time – you wouldn't necessarily have been able to counter any of it. You would have _both_ died. Remember, we only know most of this stuff from your observations and record keeping down the centuries!”

Yakov crossed and placed his hand on Yuri's back, nodding. “He's right,” he said, his gruff voice unusually gentle. “Don't start with the ' what if's', no good can come of it. This is where we are, and we must go forward from here. Yes?”

Nodding, Yuri closed his eyes and leaned against the weretiger, exhaustion creeping over his face. “So what's next?”

“Next, we have to finish figuring out the ritual of the curse, and a way to counter Yurabek's magic. Also, there's one other thing...” Phichit winced and looked at the old warlock warily. “You're not going to like it...”

“I know,” Yakov shook his head, “Ever since Yuri Awakened and started all this up again, I've been working on it. Everything I've tried before failed, but I've got all the notes and prototypes. Plus, I've got something I didn't have before; a test subject.”

“What are you talking about?” Yuri demanded, “what test subject?”

“Guang Hong has been helping me, obviously I haven't explained exactly what I was doing... but he's been essential. Over the centuries, I've only had access to a mage a few times, to refine ideas with.”

Yuri still looked blank, but Otabek grimaced as he understood.

“We need a way to counter not just Yurabek's magic, born from the fusion of life magic and elemental, witch magic... we also need to counter the abilities of a very old _,_ very _powerful_ , mage.”

The blonde's face twisted miserably as it sank in.

“Lilia.”


	8. Chapter 8

_Rome, late 21_ _st_ _century_

By the time she reached the dilapidated building in the old tourist part of town, Lilia was dusty, tired and thoroughly annoyed. She'd long since stopped being nice to the criminals trying to rob her every few streets, opting instead for a burst of magical force as soon as she saw the glint of a knife or the twist of an evil smile. There was a trail of groaning people as far back as the ruined train station, and the effort made Lilia sweat despite the cool night air. A figure stepped out of an alley and she raised a hand to send it flying.

“Mother...”

She froze, tears instantly hitting the back of her throat at the broken sound of his voice. Biting back her emotions, she lowered her hand and forced her voice to stay even, not permitting even the smallest tremble.

“You should have picked up my approach an hour ago. Your defences are pathetic... and these thugs that claim to be 'Thunder Kings'... I've met less threatening butterflies.”

The figure stepped closer, pulling its hood down. White fur gleamed in the moonlight, and Yurabek tilted his head.

“You came all this way... now you're going scold me?”

“Of course,” Lilia agreed, running her eyes over the hybrid, automatically checking for injury or damage. “It's a mother's privileged to scold her careless child.”

Yurabek grinned, and Lilia rested her hand on his chest gently.

“Your injury...”

“Healed long ago... it left a scar, but that just serves as a reminder not to be so careless next time.”

Sighing, Lilia folded her arms. “Yuri came back to Ilforte,” she admitted, and Yurabek frowned.

“Why did he go there? He should have come looking for me... following the traces of the spell...”

“Yakov thinks he was drawn to Otabek...”

The scream of rage echoed across the city, as Yurabek spun and began tearing apart the crumbling buildings with his bare hands. Lilia ducked out of the way until he switched to throwing magic around, then she wisely ran and hid.

* * *

She found him passed out surrounded by spellbooks, in the corner of his makeshift library. Placing a fresh pot of tea beside him, Lilia waited for Yurabek to wake up on his own, content to just sit and watch him. He was exactly the same, unchanged despite the years that had taken a toll on her. Even his mane was the same length, his fur the same hue.

Pale eyes opened as his sensitive nose registered the scent of tea, and he sat up, stretching out his back like a cat. A wave of deja vu washed over her, decades of watching Otabek go through the exact same motions when waking up from a doze in tiger form. Her lips tightened as she tried to gauge Yurabek's mood.

“How is the research going?”

“Terrible,” Yurabek poured tea, passing a cup to Lilia first. She raised an eyebrow.

“Table manners?”

“I learned a lot since I left my prison,” Yurabek's lip curled, and he gestured at the shelves of books. “I can read and speak eight languages now. Hard to believe only a few years ago, I couldn't even speak Russian.”

“Accelerated learning skills are common in people who can use magic,” Lilia sipped her tea, watching him closely. “Despite all this knowledge, you're no closer to understanding what happened with the ritual?”

“You refuse to say 'what went wrong', even though you know my intentions. You're still attached to the flea-bag.”

“He's my son-in-law,” Lilia shrugged, “and you and Yuri are my sons. I care for you all equally.”

“Unacceptable,” Yurabek rose, crossing to the window and looking out over the city. “If you're here, your allegiance must be with me alone.”

“Then I'll leave,” Lilia said, calmly, and Yurabek snarled. “You can keep me here by force, of course... you're much more powerful than me. That won't win my allegiance though.”

“So you're going to play both sides... spy for them, and play happy families with me...”

“Don't be absurd,” Lilia snapped, her eyes flashing so dangerously that Yurabek took a step back. “I'm not spying for anyone, and I'm _not_ here to play with you.”

“Then why...”

“I want you to lift the curse on Yuri!”

“Out of the question.”

“It _failed_ , Yurabek... for whatever reason, _he's_ still alive, and Yuri will never come back to you while that's the case. I've told you what Yakov deduced... that he's linked to you somehow, his life force bound in with yours and Yuri's through the ritual. He won't die unless you do. _You won't win this_... but I may be able to offer you some solace.”

“Solace?”

“Forget about Yuri,” Lilia rose and crossed to the hybrid, cupping his face in her hands. “I'll help you create a family of your own, people who'll love you and cherish you for what you are... but in return, you dispel the curse. Forge your own path...”

“I refuse,” Yurabek pushed her away and stormed towards the door. “If that's what you want, you may as well leave now. I'll never set him free... he'll come back to me in the end!”

“Come _back_ to you? He was never yours in the first place!” Lilia roared, and Yurabek flinched as if she'd struck him.

“Goodnight, _mother_... if you're leaving, I'd prefer you do it before breakfast. I don't want to waste any more resources on you.”

* * *

For the first six months, they largely ignored each other.

Lilia focused on getting some organisation into Yurabek's gang of thieves, disgusted by the lechery and violence he let go unchecked. The people who styled themselves “Thunder Kings” were mostly scum, looting and assaulting their way through the city, not caring about the collateral damage of their activities. Once it became clear to her that Yurabek had no interest in them beyond their ability as scavengers and security, she took control of them herself.

Her methods were brutal. Yurabek's presence in the city made it unnecessary to hide the existence of magic, so she simply overwhelmed the thugs with brute force. Hanging a few of them off tall buildings and hurling them about the city until they promised loyalty to her, Lilia worked through the bloated ranks, terrifying the leaders into submission and kicking those unwilling to bend out of Rome.

The turning point came during a meeting in the tower block Lilia had appropriated as her headquarters. One of the few buildings left in the city with access to clean water, when she'd discovered the Thunder Kings were using it as a brothel and drug den she'd been furious. Now, it housed the leaders of the group, and also served as an outreach to the less fortunate of the city. Lilia was slowly convincing the gang that keeping people alive and healthy meant more profit and resources in the long run.

In terms of leadership, the gang was split into a few factions, each holding responsibility for a different area. Lilia was at the top, and called the faction leaders into meetings weekly to check their activities and progress. Half way through one such meeting, the door opened and Yurabek strode into the room.

Silence fell, the faction leaders looking immediately at Lilia to see her reaction to being interrupted. Her face a blank mask, she simply poured a cup of tea and rose from her chair at the head of the table so that Yurabek should sit in her place. The hybrid took the cup from her and sat, indicating that she take the position at his right hand. The interaction was brief and unspoken, but the message was clear; he's the boss, she's his lieutenant.

* * *

It took another six hundred years, and two disastrous encounters with a newly awakened Yuri, before Yurabek finally agreed to discuss Lilia's idea.


	9. Chapter 9

Trying to remember when he'd last slept, Yuuri pushed open the door to Yuri's suite, yawning hugely. The chaos inside hadn't abated since yesterday, so he sighed and began searching for the blonde.

Reopening the old suite had been an emotional experience for the witch, that was obvious. He'd entered alone after Otabek pulled the boards from the door with his bare hands, padding through the rooms in a haze of memories. It took a few days before he could deal with anyone else being in the space, finally allowing Yuuri in to help him clean the suite and get it ready for habitation again.

The vault was invaluable, but after months of projects it had become a workshop, a practical space needed for the seemingly endless experiments they were conducting. The group needed a second location; somewhere they could store the prepared items and equipment they were making, as well as a place for Yuri and Otabek to relax and unwind. The atmosphere in East Tower had changed for both of them, since discovering the truth. They found it harder and harder to interact with the school in a “normal” way, and had almost immediately stopped going to lessons or participating in student life. The other inhabitants of the tower had noticed, of course, and struggled to contain their curiosity. The pair had moved into the old suite with a mental sigh of relief to get away from all that.

A scraping noise echoed through the suite, the sound of metal on metal. Following the source of the sound, Yuuri discovered the witch sitting in one of the large window seats, working a sharpening block over the blade of his daggers.

“You look tense,” Yuuri folded into a nearby chair, watching the blonde. The last few months had aged him, his face showing frown lines and deep, dark circles under his eyes.

“Weather forecast ritual for the next few days is mild, hardly any wind. Conditions are favourable for travel. If we wait too much longer, the heat will start rising and we'll be restricted to moving at night.”

Yuuri nodded, glancing out the window. In the distance, he could see patterns of clouds over the mountains, hear birds singing. It seemed hard to believe they were discussing the very real possibility of his best friend walking to his own death.

“Have you considered Victor's offer?”

The witch slipped his daggers back into their sheath, feeling the weight in his hands. “I have... and I discussed it with Otabek.”

“And?”

“The answer is no,” Yuri rose, placing the daggers with the rest of his equipment. Spread out on the table, the chairs and the floor were weapons, rations, medical supplies, spell ingredients, clothes and other essentials, enough for two people. It seemed a very small pile, for the enormity of what they were trying to do. “If we're going to die, I want to know I did everything I could. If Victor uses his gift, the outcome will be fixed, for good or ill.”

“He thought you'd say that,” Yuuri nodded. “What about _my_ offer?”

“Yuuri,” Yuri turned and gripped his friend's shoulder, shaking his head. “There is no universe in which I'd take you with me for this. As powerful as you are, and as helpful as you might be... I can't do this unless I know you're here, safe. Not just because I don't want you to get hurt,” he added, as Yuuri's lip's curled in a pout, “but because you... you and everyone else here... you're the last line of defence. If we fail...”

“Then you know there's a powerful force here to continue the fight,” Yuuri's eyes widened as understanding dawned. “OK... I'll stay. Yakov, Phichit and I... we'll make sure this place is ready if something happens to you. I promise!”

“Thank you, Yuuri,” the witch closed his eyes briefly, a look of relief settling over his features. “Just knowing that, I can let go of some of my fear.”

“When will you leave?”

“First light tomorrow.”

“In that case,” Yuuri headed for the door, a sad smile on his face, “I'll leave you and Otabek alone. Make the most of your last night with a bed,” he added, and Yuri chuckled.

* * *

Raising his nose into the wind, Otabek turned and looked back at the valley. From the treeline, the river snaked up into the mountain lake, shining like a ribbon of silver. Illforte loomed at the base of the foothills, the pale stone of its walls glowing warm yellow in the early morning sun. He could see signs of the valley waking up; smoke rising from the chimneys of the village houses, the soft sound of animals demanding breakfast.

“Every time I do this, it hurts that little bit more,” Yuri murmured, and Otabek nosed his hand comfortingly. “Once we pass the wards, it will be as if nothing is here. It might be a shock, especially to your sense of smell.”

He was right; Otabek felt the magic pass over him like a brief, cold shower, and then he grunted with surprise. It felt as if his senses had just been switched off, every trace of human habitation wiped clean. Yuri rested his hand in Otabek's fur, letting his presence and scent ground the weretiger as he adjusted. When he'd reoriented himself, they continued moving through the dense, evergreen forest that separated the valley from the lowlands below the Alps.

Ruins of cities dotted the hills as they made their way south, but the smaller villages were gone, swallowed by centuries of growth as nature reclaimed the land. After some miles, Yuri requested a stop and built a campfire, massaging his temples to relieve a pounding headache. Images of his past journeys through this countryside clashed with the memories from _this_ lifetime, the world in which he'd grown up contrasting painfully with his recall of the days following the Crash, and all the times in between. Nearly two thousand years of change assaulted his mind at each turn, and it was overwhelming.

The weretiger sat beside him, letting him rest against his fur once the headache medicine he'd taken kicked in. Sleepy and groggy from the willowbark tincture, Yuri stared up at the stars, grateful that at least the sky was the same, the movements of the stars imperceptible to the naked eye.

“Tomorrow, we'll cross the border. It won't take long to reach Rome, once we get out of the hills. We'll scout the area, then you need to change back so we can fine tune the plan.”

Otabek snuffled against Yuri's hair. They'd already decided this, the witch was trying to reassure himself. His nerves were tight, expression growing darker with every mile they put between them and Ilforte.

“Yurabek will have scouts and wards set up. Last time, I picked them up a few miles from the edge of the city, but he'll have expanded his territory since then. He's reclaiming the whole area, bit by bit.”

Sighing, Yuri closed his eyes, drowsy and warm against the weretiger's fur. “When the Crash happened, we thought nature would never recover from what we did to it. The earth was poisoned and shattered, winds tore whole countries apart, the heat from the sun caused wildfires everywhere, even the rain became toxic. Nothing would grow, the animals and people starved to death in their millions... it was hell. We _made_ it hell.”

Raising his hand, the witch gestured around them. “Once humans lost their grip on the world, it began to heal. Now look at it... a flourishing ecosystem in the absence of man. The humans that remain live in balance with nature, more or less... a few cities have working wind farms that provide power, some have dams, but most rely on solar technology from before the crash. Electricity is carefully rationed, used for the water purifiers and other things vital to the upper classes, but most of the labour is done by hand. The poor have no access to electricity, or medicine beyond folk knowledge. It's a society broken into pieces. And in the middle of all that, Yurabek grows like a cancer. There's no-one out here who can oppose him. His magic and technology are too powerful. Humanity is like a helpess child next to him.”

Otabek turned his head and nuzzled Yuri's cheek, distracting the witch from his bleak thoughts. Nestling closer into the weretiger's warmth, Yuri sighed as the headache lifted a little more, letting himself drift into sleep to the soft sound of Otabek's purrs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're into the last section of the story now, not sure how many chapters are left but probably around 5 - 10. I'm so grateful for everyone who supports and loves this story and world, and I hope the ending satisfies you all! Please come shout at me on twitter or tumblr, or sound off in the comments :)


	10. Chapter 10

“There's magic in this area,” Yuri raised a hand, and the weretiger froze. “Wait here while I check it out.”

Two days had passed since they reached the outer signs of civilisation. Nothing more than a few irregular mounds of earth at first, but then crumbled walls and shards of metal showed through the long grasses. Their pace slowed to a crawl, the tiger using his sense of smell to pick up any people or animals in the area, while Yuri searched for the traces of elemental magic that indicated wards or alarms.

By the time structures appeared on the distant horizon, Otabek could smell people on the wind, indications of a rural settlement that huddled near the main city for protection. His pace slowed, and his reluctance communicated itself to the witch.

“I'll go ahead to scout,” Yuri suggested, “you watch the outskirts. I won't be long... but we will need to enter the city eventually,” he added, and Otabek made an unhappy sound. “Prepare yourself for it.”

* * *

The first alarms were silent. Yurabek was in the middle of a meeting with Lilia when he sensed the ward being broken, and his eyes widened.

“He's here...”

Sighing, Lilia rose from her chair. “We're so close, Yurabek... perhaps this time, you could...” A snarl ripped from the hybrid's mouth, and Lilia backed away in astonishment. Yurabek's fur rose in long hackles, his eyes glowing with fury. “What is it?”

“ _Otabek..._ ”

Startled that the hybrid would use the name, Lilia spoke softly. “What about him?”

“He's _here..._ with Yuri...”

“Impossible,” Lilia shook her head, fear clutching her heart. “In nearly two thousand years, he's _never_ brought him... why would he...”

“Last time he came, he made it into the labs,” Yurabek smoothed his fur down with shaking hands. “He must have remembered what he saw...”

“He knows about the clones?”

“Mother,” Yurabek stared out of the window, in the direction of the triggered alarms. “Can the weretiger kill me?”

“I don't know... maybe. His claws, his teeth... you're not immune to them. If he did enough damage, quickly enough... yes, he could kill you. I won't let that happen!” Lilia folded her arms, raising her chin defiantly. “I'll talk with them... convince them to stand down...”

“Yuri really wants to kill me this time...”

Exasperated, Lilia clicked her tongue. “He's wanted to kill you _every_ time, you're just too stubborn to see it. Bringing Otabek means he's desperate, that's all...”

“I get to kill Otabek!” The hybrid giggled, dragging his claws along the wall as he gazed out of the window. “I get to _kill_ him... tear him apart... I'm going to skin him... hang his head on my wall... ahhhh...” he sounded unhinged, and Lilia shuddered.

“Give me a chance to stop them,” she begged.

“Whatever you want, Mother... when you fail, I get to kill _Otabek_...” the hybrid gestured for her to leave, and she fled from the sound of his manic giggling.

Placing the building in high alert, Lilia pulled all the security back to the perimeter, before cloaking herself in several layers of defensive spells. Once she was satisfied that she could withstand at least a few minutes of Yuri's temper, she strode out into the ruined city to wait for them.

* * *

Otabek paused, a soft growl rumbling in his throat. He could smell a female up ahead, and taste the magic surrounding her. Considering his options, he shifted and dressed to wait until Yuri rejoined him.

Seeing the human form, Yuri raised an eyebrow as he reached the weretiger. “What is it?”

“Someone's waiting for us. A woman... she's powerful. Yuri... it might be...”

“Lilia.” Yuri gazed in the direction Otabek pointed out. “Time to see if Yakov knows what he's doing,” he added, pulling a spell scroll out of his bag.

* * *

She was waiting for them in the open, in the remains of what had once been a small park. At the sight of her, Yuri felt something hard and painful inside, grief and regret tangled up with centuries of distrust and frustration. In all the years he'd come here, every time Yurabek had caught him, _killed_ him, he'd never once seen Lilia. He only knew she was still alive from Yurabek's taunts.

Her eyes were cold, narrowed against the fading evening sun as she watched them approach, but Yuri could still read her face. He knew she was battling strong emotions, fighting to keep her composure. Taking Otabek's hand gently, he stopped a few feet from her and met her gaze.

“Yakov's magic is strong,” she murmured, and Yuri knew she could sense the warlock's spell protecting them. “How is the old fool?”

“He misses you,” Yuri shrugged. From the moment he set eyes on her, the witch decided not to conceal anything. She could always see right through him anyway, and hiding things would serve no purpose now.

To his surprise, Lilia turned to Otabek, a soft smile on her face. “I've missed you, too,” her hand twitched as if she wanted to reach for the weretiger, but she held herself in check. “You really haven't changed at all.”

“!'m sorry... I don't remember you,” Otabek looked sad, but Lilia just nodded.

“I expected that. I've spent centuries analysing Yurabek's ritual, trying to understand how it works... and how to undo it.” She fixed Yuri with a fierce expression. “You haven't helped my campaign to make him reverse the spell, you know. Every time you come here, it reignites his temper.”

“You've been trying to undo the spell?” Yuri was shocked, but anger quickly followed. “If I've been messing up your plans, why have you waited so long to speak to me??”

“Do you think I have any power here?” Lilia snapped back, ice cold fury on her face. “Until now, Yurabek has forbidden me from going near you... at least until after he's finished with you...” her voice suddenly broke, and she closed her eyes as she tried to control herself.

“You... you saw my body?”

“I have buried what's left of you thirteen times,” she angrily brushed away a stray tear, forcing her emotions into submission.

“Lilia...” unable to think of a way to respond, Yuri just shook his head, clinging on to Otabek's hand.

“Thank you for taking care of him.”

Lilia stared at the weretiger. “You... you really _haven't_ changed,” she sounded astonished, but Otabek just shrugged.

“I am who I am,” he said, “since I don't remember losing him, I'm just glad someone was there to... to...”

“It's OK,” Yuri nudged the weretiger, “that's all in the past, now. This time pays for all.”

“You're here to kill him.”

Yuri nodded. “What he's doing is an abomination. What he's creating...”

“It's not working,” Lilia folded her arms over her chest and sat gracefully on a chunk of rubble. “The magic that created him prevents the copies from fully developing. They fail, no matter what we try. It may take centuries more before it's finished...”

“You _have_ been helping him...” Yuri sounded outraged, but Lilia's eyes flashed.

“It was the only way to get him to lift your curse!” she retorted, silencing the witch. “He's so _lonely,_ Yuri... he's given up on you ever loving him... he gave up on it centuries ago. Now, he just tortures you for his own amusement... and revenge. I stayed here to help him because I wanted to _save_ you... it's all I've ever wanted to do.”

“He's insane,” Yuri declared, and Lilia laughed.

“Completely insane,” she agreed, “but not stupid, or illogical. His reality is just... different... from ours. In his world, you are his one great love, forever denied... and Otabek is his nemesis. If Yurabek gets his hands on him, all the centuries of torture and death you've experienced will pale in comparison to what he'll do to him. Bringing him here was foolish, Yuri.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Yuri shrugged.

“His clones are nowhere _near_ ready...”

Yuri exchanged a look with the weretiger, and Otabek nodded.

“That doesn't matter any more. This is the last time I'll come here.”

“You're giving up on your crusade??” Lilia sounded shocked, but Yuri shook his head.

“My family line is over,” the witch said, watching her face carefully. “The next time I die, there won't be a vessel for me. I won't be born again. It's over, Lilia.”

“That's...”

“Yakov confirmed it. We spent three years tracing my lineage... it took a huge amount of time and resources, but we tracked every single one of my distant relatives. We already knew I'm only ever reincarnated in the paternal line... and you know how fragile that can be. My father... _this body's_ father... was the last male Ivanov descendant. I have no siblings... my mother lost several pregnancies, and after I was born they stopped trying. All my “relatives” were from her first husband.”

“If you had children...”

“Impossible,” Yuri tossed his head, “In all my reincarnations, I've never produced offspring... I always thought it was because of Otabek, but Yakov pointed out that I hadn't always... there were often partners before I returned to Illforte. Odds of me having children were high... but there were none. We tested the theory... I'm sterile. Yakov thinks it's been the case each time... most likely a side effect of the curse.”

Unable to hide her shock, Lilia twisted her fingers together as she processed Yuri's words. After a while, she raised her head, and Yuri felt a rush of guilt as he saw tears in her eyes.

“So you're going to throw _both_ your lives away this time?”

“That depends,” Yuri let go of Otabek's hand, and crouched in front of her. “Help us, Lilia... help me _stop_ him. You _know_ what's he's doing is wrong... what will happen if he succeeds... help us, Lilia. Let's put an end to this... together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy original BL fantasy, check out my second novel, "Elfheart"! Released weekly, I'm really excited to share this project with you! [Read on Wattpad for free!](https://www.wattpad.com/story/218138515-elfheart)


	11. Chapter 11

Silence stretched out between them, as Lilia and Yuri stared at each other. Shifting nervously, Otabek found he lacked the courage to intervene. All he could do was wait for the explosion... but to his astonishment, Lilia just sighed and cupped Yuri's chin with her hand.

“Silly boy,” she murmured, “how can you ask me to chose between my sons?”

Tears shone in Yuri's eyes, and he slowly rose to his feet. “You still see your son, when you look at me?”

“Of course,” her eyebrow arched, challengingly. “Do you not see your mother?”

“I never called you that,” Yuri wrapped his arms around himself, feeling small and helpless. “It always hurt that Yurabek used it so casually.”

“You wanted to honour your grandfather,” Lilia said, shrugging. “Yakov and I always understood that. Just because you never used the words, didn't make it any less true.”

“All those centuries ago, you came here alone to make Yurabek set me free,” the witch scrubbed his hands over his face, sounding exhausted. “You should know by now, he'll never do that.”

“I know.”

“Then why...”

“I've spent the last millennia watching my sons fight to the death, and cleaning up afterwards,” her voice was like iron, refusing to acknowledge the pain of her words. “Now you ask me to help you... how can I raise my hand to either of you?”

The witch turned away, walking towards the edge of the park. Surprised, Otabek hovered for a moment, and Lilia smiled at him.

“Go on... follow him.”

“What will you do?” Otabek asked, and the ancient mage tugged her coat more firmly around her shoulders, her back ramrod straight.

“What I should have done centuries ago,” she said, rising to her feet and watching the clouds scurry past.

“Yurabek will expect you to protect him.”

Lilia put her hands in her pockets and turned away from the weretiger. “I suppose I should disappoint both of them equally.”

“Lilia...I...” Otabek paused as she raised an eyebrow at him. “I wish I could remember you. Goodbye,” he finished, before setting off after the witch.

Lilia silently watched him go, closing her emotions deep inside herself as the pair disappeared into the distance. Then she reached into her shirt collar and pulled out a golden chain, running her fingers over the links. Closing her eyes, she incanted and the necklace fragmented, spilling gold all over the ground.

* * *

The first wave of attacks came as they reached the inner city. A wall of smoke exploded in front of them, blocking their way and confounding Otabek's senses instantly. Shaking his head to clear his nose, he shifted form, ignoring the clothes that exploded off his body. With a roar, the weretiger swiped his massive paws, and struck at the humans using the smoke as a cover.

Flame billowed from Yuri's palms, lashing out in whips of fire as he defended himself. The men attacking were armed with melee weapons, no magic on any of them, and they fell back in horror at the fury of the witch. Switching to attack, Yuri's fire cut a path through them and they ran forward, aiming for the building cloaked in the most magic. Yurabek hadn't even tried to hide his wards and protections, and the large structure lit up like a candle in Yuri's eyes.

A second wave of men rushed them as they reached the building, and Yuri ordered the weretiger out of the way before unleashing a wall of heat. Their enemies scattered like leaves, desperate to avoid being burned alive, and the pair ran on. As they reached the first wards, Yuri calmed his magic and turned to Otabek.

“Watch my back.”

The weretiger nodded and took up a guarding position as the witch began examining the wards. Yurabek's thugs were picking themselves up and regrouping, and Otabek knew it wouldn't be long before they attacked again. As terrified of the weretiger as they were, he knew Yurabek scared them more.

Concentrating on the wards, Yuri began incanting, weaving elemental power into a battering ram against the hybrid's magical locks. Usually, this would be done with an elaborate ritual, but he knew they had no time. Using raw power to literally smash his way into the building was the faster option. As he heard Otabek's battle roar, he summoned his strength and hurled magical force at the wards.

An unnatural silence fell around them, all sound suddenly supressed. The humans had a moment to stare at each other in confusion, then the building _wavered_ , like a desert mirage dispelled by a cool breeze. In an instant, every window on the structure imploded, sending broken glass hammering through the corridors and into the rooms, and there were agonised screams from those hiding inside. Yuri stepped back, his face twisting into a cruel grin, and raised his hands towards the attackers Otabek was holding at bay.

They took one look at the witch's expression, and fled.

* * *

When the wards shattered, Yurabek stumbled against Christophe, clutching his head. The instant of pain left him gasping, and for a moment the only thing keeping him upright was the grip of the incubus around his waist.

“Yura... are you OK?”

Snarling, the hybrid pushed his lover away, claws flashing. Christophe dodged the blow nimbly, brows knitting with worry as Yurabek leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.

“What happened?”

“The wards... Yuri smashed them. He's... he's so powerful this time...” there was no mistaking the longing in Yurabek's voice, and Christophe's heart ached.

“Tell me what to do,” the incubus drew himself up to his... well, 16 year old Yuri's... full height, flicking his blonde hair out of his eyes. Yurabek stared at him, then an evil smile twitched his lips.

“My Yuri should have a proper greeting... why don't you wait for him, beloved? I know you've been looking forward to seeing him again...”

“He'll kill me,” there was no fear in Christophe's voice, just a cold sense of finality. Yurabek nodded.

“Yes... but you'll get a chance to return some of your feelings to him before he does. Especially if you greet him like this... he doesn't know you can change your form, after all.”

“What about the weretiger?” Christophe knew better than to say Otabek's name, but the hybrid just laughed.

“That fleabag won't attack _anyone_ who looks like Yuri... you'll be safe from him. The witch will probably set you on fire again, though.”

Christophe shuddered at the memory of burning agony, and Yurabek grinned. Pressing a kiss to the incubus' forehead, he sent a surge of power through his lover's body.

“Go... I promise, you won't feel any pain. Just do your best, and give a good account of yourself before you die.”


	12. Chapter 12

A growl from the weretiger alerted Yuri to the ambush, and he wrapped them both in a veil of fire. The men fell screaming, desperate to escape the anger of the witch. Panting, Yuri rested against the wall for a moment, and Otabek stood guard while he caught his breath.

“I'm using too much energy,” the witch muttered, “if I keep going like this, I'll be too weak to fight Yurabek...”

Otabek snarled, indicating that Yurabek was _his_ fight, and the witch laughed.

“I know, but you'll need help... you can't take him on alone.”

Fixing Yuri with a withering look, Otabek opened his mouth to huff disapprovingly, then froze as a familiar scent hit his nose. Baffled, he tilted his head, staring down the corridor.

“What is it?”

The weretiger crouched, movements unmistakably hostile, and Yuri tensed. Together, they made their way deeper into the building. Pushing through an unlocked door, Yuri's mind went blank as he stared at the occupant of the room, disorientation making his head spin.

It was... Yuri?

Him... but not _him_... this was the way he looked four years ago. Shoulder length blonde hair, slender figure, narrow wrists... fragile and pale, with an aggressive pout hiding lonely eyes. It took Otabek's snarl to break him out of the shock, and by that time the figure had closed the distance on them.

Raising his arms to ward off the blow, Yuri fell back against the wall as the doppleganger struck at him with a long, gleaming blade. Otabek roared in pain as he intercepted the strike, the blade leaving a long wound on the weretiger's thick hide.

“What...” Yuri cursed, hurling fire from his palms in rage. The double grinned savagely as the flames scorched his skin and fried his hair, and struck the weretiger again.

“I owe you at least this much,” the double sneered, in Yuri's wobbly, teenage voice. He turned his attention to the witch as Otabek collapsed, waves of pain and nausea crashing through his body. “Repayment for the last time you set me on fire...”

“ _Christophe?”_ Yuri gaped at the double, the words and the tone clicking into place. “How are you...” his eyes went to the blade, and narrowed as he saw the bluish sheen to the metal. “Yurabek's blood?”

“He wanted to see if it would work on the kitty,” the incubus snarled madly, his grip on the glamour that masked his real appearance wavering as his injuries took their toll. As his form flickered and shifted, Yuri saw the scars on his face and the lost look in those beautiful hazel eyes.

“You're going to sacrifice yourself for him?” the witch demanded, and the incubus gave a broken chuckle, tears spilling down his cheeks. “You're a survivor, Christophe... you've _always_ been a survivor. _Why are you doing this??”_

Christophe's expression twisted into a sad parody of a smile. “I'm tired,” he murmured, so softly that the witch had to strain to hear it. “I just want to sleep... no pain, no fear... just let me go to sleep.”

The feeling of utter exhaustion from being afraid, bone weary and heartsick... Yuri remembered it clearly... when he left home, he spent the first year in that state, terrified and hurting, every moment of his life defined by suffering. An urge to comfort the incubus rose in his chest... but then he heard Otabek's ragged breathing and glanced at the slumped form of the weretiger. His eyes narrowed, and he raised his hands, unleashing a storm of fire. As the flames wrapped around him, Christophe closed his eyes and let the blade fall from his hands.

* * *

Alone in his suite, Yurabek incanted and his scrying mirror shifted focus. He watched Yuri kneel beside the injured weretiger, applying some kind of balm to the long slashes on Otabek's shoulder. In the corner of the room, the remains of the incubus smoked, cremated beyond recognition. Yurabek's tail twitched as the weretiger rose to his feet, nuzzling against Yuri's hand before they made their way towards the top of the building.

“As expected... my blood still carries enough aconite residue to hurt werecreatures... I told you it would, mother!”

Silence met his cry, and he looked around the empty room, the insane glaze on his eyes lifting for a moment as he remembered that Lilia was gone. Claws scrabbled on the arm of the couch, and the hybrid growled softly.

“You left me... but you're not with _him_... where did you go?”

Casting his vision wider, Yurabek began searching for Lilia, peering into every room in the tower. He saw the twins running around in the labs, Sara working to protect her research and specimens, while Mickey focused on protecting his sister. Men rushed to and fro on other levels, some trying to block Yuri's progress, others looting and running for their lives. Yurabek ignored them all, going wider and wider until his magical vision alighted on a small park just inside the boundary of his wards. A figure sat sternly on a broken scrap of masonry, and for a moment Yurabek's heart leapt... until he saw the shrivelled, dessicated state of the body. As strict and upright in death as she had been in life.

“Mother...”

* * *

The scream of rage and grief echoed through the building, and Yuri broke into a run, making a beeline for the source of the sound. Otabek raced beside him, the wounds on his body closing slowly, pain burning with every step despite the witch's treatment. The number of guards thinned as they drew closer, and a deep unease grew in the back of Yuri's mind. Eventually, he stopped running, grabbing the weretiger's tail to bring him to a halt.

“This is wrong... this is a trap. He's waiting for us...”

Otabek grunted, twitching his tail out of Yuri's hand and giving him a gentle cuff on the hip. They'd always known it would be an ambush, after all. The witch shook his head, kneeling down to face the weretiger.

“I mean worse than we thought,” he clarified. “I think... I think attacking him head on is a mistake.”

Standing guard while Yuri wracked his brains, Otabek listened to the howls of fury from above them. Eventually, the witch shook his head.

“The labs...” he clenched his fists. “Yurabek is in the top of the building... the labs are in the basement. He's trying to draw us away from the labs... they're going to try and escape with the research!” his eyes narrowed with the realisation, and he spun on his heel. “That's our first target... maybe the only one that matters. Even if we can't destroy Yurabek, we _have_ to stop his madness. If we can weaken him Yakov and the others might be able to take him down, but they won't stand a chance against an army of clones!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're into the final chapters now, and I've updated the chapter count. Ahhhhh I can't believe it's nearly finished!! It's been a huge labour of love, and I'm so grateful for all your comments, shares and kudos <3


	13. Chapter 13

Muttering under her breath, Sara finished loading the backpacks with samples and notes. One each, and a second one for Mickey to wear over his chest, and there was still far too much stuff left behind. Yurabek's instructions had been clear: save the research, anything you can't carry must be abandoned.

The assault on the building had shocked everyone, and Yurabek had immediately followed Lilia's emergency planning. Sara, Mickey and a handful of guards would take as much of the research as possible outside of the city, until the attack was over. Yurabek would call them back once it was safe, but the risk of Yuri destroying the labs was too great to be ignored.

A shout echoed in the corridor outside, and Sara winced at the meaty thump of her brother hitting the floor. A moment later, the door hissed open and a massive tiger strolled through, sniffing the cool air inside the lab. Staring at the animal, Sara didn't immediately notice the blonde dragging Mickey's unconscious form into the room.

“Brother!” Sara darted to his side, concerns about the research blow from her mind at the sight of blood on Mickey's face. Yuri pulled the door shut behind him and glared around the room.

“He'll live. Might have a headache. Don't do anything stupid... we're not here for you.”

Sara looked up and her breath caught. Familiar with Christophe's appearance by now, she was astonished to see the similarities between that sixteen year old boy, and this towering adult man. The green eyes were identical, but the hair was longer, tied in a braid and covered with travel dust. Broad shoulders and sharp chin gave him a more masculine look, but he was still painfully pretty. As she stared at him, he curled his lip in a sneer.

“Do you want to get out of this alive?”

As Yuri talked to the frightened scientist, Otabek prowled the room. The clones hanging suspended in their tanks made his skin crawl, and he avoided looking at them. Instead, he focused on tracing the scent of the woman as she'd moved around the lab, working out what she'd touched, where she'd spent her time. It would tell him which areas were most important, and so needed to be destroyed.

Spotting the tiger approaching the rucksacks, Sara's fingers twitched and she flung a protection rune at them. Yuri snarled a warning and the tiger jumped away, then the witch snagged her by the hair and dragged her up to face him.

“Are you so desperate to die for him?” the witch demanded, glaring at the shimmering protection rune that covered the bags. He knew he could break it, but it would require time and effort... much easier for her to do it.

“It's not _about_ him!” she retorted, gripping Yuri's wrist as he yanked her hair. “ _My entire life's work..._ everything... I won't let you destroy it!”

The witch snarled something even angrier, and raised his hand as if to slap her. Fire wreathed his palm, and Sara shuddered, remembering Christophe's scars. She closed her eyes and braced for the pain, then found herself released from Yuri's grip.

“You're obviously talented,” a new voice spoke, and she opened her eyes. A short, well muscled man was holding Yuri's wrist, preventing the witch from striking her. Yuri looked furious, but showed no hostility towards the other man who was, Sara realised suddenly, completely naked.

“Otabek?” she guessed, and the man nodded. “You're smaller than I expected... well, height wise,” she added, casting an amused look downwards. Yuri immediately ripped his jacket off and held it at the weretiger's waist.

“Eyes up here, mage.”

“ _Runecaster,_ and lesbian, so don't worry,” Sara retorted, and Otabek sighed.

“Is this the time to be possessive, Yuri?” Taking the coat and covering himself with it, he turned back to Sara. “Talent, and an unusual magical skill. You know this research is doomed, don't you?”

Biting her lip, Sara's eyes flicked to the side and she hunched in on herself. “We've had some success...”

“Lilia Baranovskaya is nearly two thousand years old, and she's spent most of that time working on this project.” Yuri watched Sara's face carefully, noting the shock at his words. “You didn't know that?”

The runecaster shook her head, a dull numbing sensation spreading through her body. She knew the research was old, she'd assumed Lilia inherited it... but Yuri's statement made sense of so many odd things...

“If she couldn't do it in that time, do you think you can succeed in just one lifetime?”

“I...”

“Let it go,” Otabek gently placed a hand on her shoulder, and she found herself looking helplessly into his huge brown eyes. Her world swam around her, and she realised with horror she was on the verge of tears.

“Yurabek... we owe him our lives... nowhere else to go...”

“If you agree to leave the research behind, and put away all thoughts of these experiments, I can give you directions to a safe place,” Yuri folded his arms across his chest, and Otabek stared at him.

“You're sending them to Illforte??”

“Yakov will know what to do with them... they'll be placed under the charter, but they'll have a home, and a future. That's more than they ever had here.”

“Illforte... Yurabek described it as a prison,” Sara's voice wobbled, doubts creeping into her mind. Otabek shook his head.

“It's a sanctuary for magical people and creatures... it's where Yurabek was created... for him, it was a prison of a sort... but only because of the hatred in his heart.” The weretiger shivered, and Yuri turned to him.

“Change back, it's freezing in here.”

As the man shifted back into the form of the massive tiger, Sara gaped at him. “I've never seen a real were before...”

“Ilforte has werewolves, werefoxes... djinns, warlocks, nymphs, mermen... Yakov's spent two thousand years helping them preserve their culture and protecting the different species... he could use the help of a real scientist,” Yuri smiled as Sara's eyes lit up, the prospect of so much knowledge and learning tantalising to her hungry intellect. She glanced down at Mickey, and Yuri handed her his bag.

“What's this?”

“Travelling supplies, first aid and some spare potions. I won't be needing any of it... if we survive this, we'll resupply later. Take it, and your brother, and leave the city.” Yuri muttered a quick incantation, and a blank piece of paper appeared between his fingers. “Go north... once you cross the Italian border, this will show you the way to Illforte. It's one of my personal homing runes, don't try messing with it or it will burn up. Just trust it, follow it and show it to Yakov when you get there. There's a message on it about you, so he'll know to take you in.”

“How can you be so generous?”

“I don't have time to explain,” Yuri shrugged, and nudged Mickey with his foot. “You two... in a fair world, you would have found your way there on your own. Yurabek stole that chance from you... I'm just giving it back.”

“Is Christophe dead?”

The question took Yuri by surprise, and he paused before nodding. “He didn't leave me any choice... and I think he wanted it, somehow.”

“I tortured him,” Sara raised her chin, “I tortured many people... killed quite a few of them... your precious Illforte won't accept me.”

“Yakov will give you one chance to change... to turn away from violence and pain. You'll sign a charter, swearing that you will never harm anyone at Illforte... if you break that promise, Yakov will destroy you. But if you really want a new life... free of all this horror... then it's yours for the taking.” Smiling, Yuri rested his hand on Otabek's head and smoothed the fur gently. “We're all killers... some worse than others... it's not about what you were, it's about what you want to be.”

Sara's eyes filled with tears, and she looked down at her brother. Casting a rune over his forehead, she woke him and pulled him to stand next to her, forbidding any outbursts with a glare. “Mickey has no magic... will they accept him?”

“He'll be offered a job, and you'll be allowed to stay together,” Yuri shrugged, “depending on his past, he might also have to sign the charter... but yes, they'll take you both.”

“Then we'll go,” Sara decided, hushing her brother gently as he protested.

“Is there a map of the labs?” Yuri gestured, “This has to stop, I think you know that... even if I can't kill Yurabek, I have to put an end to this madness.”

Wordlessly, Sara handed him a map from her pocket, and pointed at the bags on the table, removing the protection rune. “All the important research is there... the other rooms are storage for samples and more test subjects. Some of them...” she hung her head. “You may find survivors... but they won't thank you for rescuing them. None of them have consciousness any more.”

Yuri took the map, holding back his anger with difficulty. “Yurabek is a creature of malice and hatred... he corrupts everything he touches. Leave the stains behind before you reach the mountains... breathe the clean air, and turn away from this nightmare. Now go.”

Once the twins were out of sight, Yuri gestured Otabek from the room and ignited his palms. “Fire cleanses all,” he murmured, sending his flames to engulf the room. As glass and metal squealed under the intense heat, the witch turned his back and headed deeper into the building, hunting down every last trace of Yurabek's experiments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week will be the last update, as I'll be posting the final two chapters together <3 
> 
> Until then, please check out my new book "Elfheart"! [Read on Wattpad for free!](https://www.wattpad.com/story/218138515-elfheart)


	14. Chapter 14

Smoke rose through the building as the laboratories burned. Yuri and Otabek ran ahead of the flames, retracing their route towards Yurabek. As they passed the room where the incubus had died, Yuri glanced through a shattered window and saw Sara and Mickey picking their way through the debris outside, heading north. A sense of relief stole over him, and he rested his hand on Otabek's back for a moment.

“At least a few survived this nightmare.”

The weretiger grunted agreement, nuzzling Yuri's fingers.

After a few more levels, Otabek's paced slowed and he grumbled a warning. An unnatural stink filled his nose, a mixture of scents that made his skin crawl. On top of it all was the bitter scent of hatred and anger, but beneath that were familiar notes. He could smell Yuri, and his own tiger musk, blended together with the acrid taste of magic. It could only be Yurabek.

The witch noticed his hesitation and closed his eyes, extending his senses. Wards lay all around them, and he shattered them with a single surge of power. Since burning the labs, a huge wave of relief washed over him, and he felt renewed. Lilia and the twins had left, the experiments were destroyed... even if he couldn't kill Yurabek this time, he had Yakov's promise to finish the hybrid off. Destroying the clone research was the priority mission, and they had succeeded. The pressure was off, and Yuri felt like he could breathe properly for the first time in years.

Kneeling in front of the weretiger, he ran his hands over Otabek's fur, looking into his beautiful brown eyes. “No matter what happens, you know I love you, right?”

Otabek shivered into human form, gripping Yuri's hands tightly. “I love you, too,” he replied, pulling the witch into a deep, passionate kiss. “Lets finish this,” he added, and Yuri nodded agreement.

“It's time.”

* * *

The top floor of the building was an office complex attached to a penthouse suite. They passed a boardroom, empty and echoing, and moved through into a lounge area. As the pair explored, Otabek followed his nose and Yuri dealt with any wards that they encountered. Apart from the magical defences, the place seemed abandoned.

“Is he really so arrogant?” Yuri wondered, before chuckling to himself. “Of course he is... he wants this kill all to himself.”

Approaching the main area of the suite, Otabek paused and tilted his head. Snuffling, he took a step back, his whole body tense. Yuri wrapped fire around his hands, and braced himself for an attack.

Neither of them were prepared for the hybrid to calmly step out in front of them, arms hanging loosely at his sides. Yuri swore beneath his breath, and Otabek hissed at the sight of the white creature.

“You've done well this time,” Yurabek deliberately avoided looking at the weretiger, his gaze instantly moving to the witch. “You're in fairly good shape, although your magic is low, and you've done considerable damage to my property. It will take me decades to rebuild my research,” he clapped his hands slowly, sarcasm rolling from his words. “Congratulations. You've managed to irritate me.”

“Glad to hear it,” Yuri dropped into a fighting stance, “let's see how annoyed you get when I set you on fire.”

“Now, now... is that entirely necessary?” Yurabek finally turned to the weretiger, tilting his head to the side. “I thought you liked this creature... do you really want him to die so soon?”

“You can try,” Yuri laughed, but his face fell as Otabek snuffled again before suddenly collapsing as his legs gave way. The weretiger looked shocked, and Yurabek cackled.

“Aerosol dispersion of my blood,” he explained, as Yuri extinguished his flames and dropped to his knees beside the struggling weretiger. “Once I saw how effective it was in your fight against Christophe, I added a dilution to the air in here. He's been overwhelmed with my scent ever since you reached this floor, so he didn't notice the effects.”

Otabek weakly pawed at his nose, and Yuri's lip curled. “Despicable... you're so scared to face him, you resort to poison...”

“Here's the deal,” Yurabek grinned, folding his arms. “You surrender to me, and I let him leave. You should have known I'd use him against you...” Yuri cut off his words with a violent strike, the silver edged blade marking Yurabek's chest as the hybrid barely dodged.

“No deal... instead, I'll kill you, and take him out of here myself,” Yuri snarled, raining blow after blow down on the hybrid.

Shocked by the speed of Yuri's attack, Yurabek retreated and wreathed himself in fire for protection from the silver. The wound on his chest bled heavily, and he slammed a palm down onto it to cauterize with his own flames. As they battled their way across the suite, Otabek changed form and looked around the room, seeking the source of the poison. He knew if he could destroy it, he had a chance of joining the fight.

The scent of blood from Yurabek's wound gave him a clue, and he focused on that smell, tracking it to a candle in the corner. Yurabek had set up an oil burner, and used his blood as the solution. Otabek hurled the entire device through a nearby window, ignoring the pain as the blood splashed over his hand.

Falling back under the rage of the witch, Yurabek desperately threw fire into Yuri's face. Roaring defiance, Yuri smashed the flames away with his own power, turning them back towards the hybrid. As his blade slashed again and again, Yurabek broke and ran.

“How... how are you so _powerful??_ ” he screamed, fear finally breaking through his madness. As he stumbled, he felt an iron grasp around his wrists, and the answer was growled into his ear.

“Because this time, he has _me_!”

Howling in rage, Yurabek broke the hold and spun, sinking the claws on both hands into Otabek's chest. Even as he exulted in the sight of his hated enemy's blood, the hybrid felt white hot agony across his back, and knew Yuri had struck a fatal blow. Blueish blood spurted and he drove his claws deeper, lips pulling back from his teeth in a savage snarl as the weretiger collapsed beneath him, and he heard Yuri's frantic screams. As the witch threw him to the side and worked to save his beloved, Yurabek slid towards death with a manic laugh on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't scream at me yet... wait for the epilogue! <3


	15. Epilogue

“Otabek... _Otabek... please... please don't leave me...”_

Scraping the blue blood away from the weretiger's skin, Yuri sobbed helplessly as Otabek's breathing rattled in his throat. His chest was torn, great slashed from Yurabek's claws allowing the poisonous blood to enter his system. In his final moments, Yurabek had delivered a killing blow, and Yuri desperately fought to save the weretiger's life.

As a last resort, Yuri tried to summon his fire to cauterize the wounds and burn away the poison. It took a few seconds to realise that his flames weren't answering him, and Yuri stared at his own hands in horror. As he tried again to control his magic, a wave of nausea and dizziness rolled over him, and he collapsed beside the weretiger's dying body.

“Ot...Ota... bek...”

Yuri's eyes filled with tears, and he shuddered as something hot and painful tightened in his chest. Air defied him, his lungs burned and ached as he tried to breathe. Helplessly, he grabbed Otabek's hand and dragged himself onto the weretiger's body, the last of his strength leaving him as his head dropped onto his lover's chest.

* * *

Darkness breaks into a grey mist, flowing and twisting on unseen currents. Awareness returns, and Yuri looks down at his body. He is naked, but it does not cause him shame. His skin is smooth, unmarked by scars or injury. Touching his head reveals long, blonde hair, and he brushes it back over his shoulder.

“I never thought it would be like this.”

Yuri turns to look at the hybrid, and feels no sense of surprise that Yurabek is also naked, uninjured, whole.

“What would be like this?”

“Death,” Yurabek moves closer, floating in the mist.

Yuri feels no fear or anger, just a sense of familiarity. All his rage and exhaustion is gone, leaving nothing in its place. “You have never died before,” he points out, “how could you know what to expect?”

“Neither have you,” the hybrid points out, and Yuri shakes his head.

“This is my fourteenth death...”

“No,” Yurabek disagrees, “that was just a change of space. The curse always pulled you into your next life before you could reach true death.”

Yuri feels a tug, and turns. The mists swirl and part, and a path is revealed, fragments of gold leading away into the distance.

“Where does it go?”

“Back,” the hybrid sneers.

“Back? I don't understand...”

“The curse is powerful... but it has a weakness. Otabek was the cornerstone of the curse... without him, the cycle cannot complete. You cannot be reborn again.”

“Otabek... he is dead, then.” Yuri's voice sounds numb, and a tear slips down his cheek.

“I finally got to kill him,” Yurabek doesn't seem happy, but Yuri growls at him anyway.

“You are a monster.”

“Yes,” Yurabek nodded, “but mother wasn't.”

“Lilia?” Yuri looked confused. “What does she have to do with this?”

“Her magic was always powerful... but I never expected her to sacrifice herself for you.”

Touching one of the gold fragments, Yuri's eyes widen as a vision unfolds before him.

_Lilia silently watches Otabek go, closing her emotions deep inside herself as the pair disappear into the distance. Then she reaches into her shirt collar and pulls out a golden chain, running her fingers over the links. Closing her eyes, she incants and the necklace fragments, spilling gold all over the ground._

_The gold swirls around her as Lilia's form begins to fade, a wind whipping up and carrying the fragments away. With the last of her power, Lilia's spell reaches into the place between death and birth, to wait._

“She sacrificed herself...” Yuri sounds stunned, but Yurabek just sighs.

“Stupid woman... she achieved nothing.”

“How can you speak of her that way,” anger flashes, and the mist swirls around them, aggravated by Yuri's rage. “She _loved_ us... she was the only one who _ever_ loved _you_!”

“I know,” Yurabek turns and gazes at the gold path. “Yet she left you with such an unbearable choice.”

“What are you talking about?”

Yurabek points to the path. “Do you want to see Otabek again?”

“What? Yes, of course!”

“Then take the path she left for you.”

“Why do you know so much?” Yuri's suspicions rise, and he turns to the hybrid. “Are you really Yurabek?”

“In a way... but also, not. I am the part of all three of us that can never be free. The part that waits.”

“The curse...”

Yurabek nods. “My sacrifice for the ritual... to give up that part of myself which is immortal. I wait here, at the end, to offer you the choice.”

Yuri stares at the gold path, thoughts churning in his mind. “You are Yurabek's soul... or maybe all of our souls, in a way... you're what keeps me being reborn... and Otabek was your anchor.”

“Each time you die, you have a choice to make,” the soul fragment in the form of Yurabek nods. “You come here, and you chose to be reborn.”

“ _Why,”_ Yuri knows why, but he needs to hear it, needs to _feel_ it. In answer, the soul fragment gestures and the mists part to reveal a simple scene.

_A tiny tiger cub plays on the ground with two others, rolling on fresh grass. Not far away, in human form, their parents watch fondly. As the play turns painful, the male cub cries and runs back to his mother, changing form as he escapes his sisters sharp baby teeth._

_“Otabek... you're the oldest, why do they always manage to bully you?” his mother demands, scooping him into her lap. Laughing, the child twists her hair around his fingers and buries his head against her neck._

_“He's too kind, he knows he's stronger than them, so he lets them win,” his father chuckles, gathering the other two cubs in his arms. As the girls continue to romp in tiger form, their older brother watches them with gentle eyes._

Yuri's eyes fill with tears as he watches, and Yurabek sighs. “This time is different... if you chose him again, you won't be born into your next life. Your family line is ended... there is nothing for you to move on to.”

“Then what will happen?”

“You'll be with him again... that's all I know.”

“If I don't go back to him?”

“You'll die... for good. So will I... and we'll go on to whatever comes next.”

Yuri looks back at the golden path, and stiffens his shoulders. Yurabek sighs.

“Even after all this time, all these lives, you still chose to go back to him?”

“I'll always chose him,” Yuri steps forward onto the path of gold, and the mists swirl around him until he is lost from sight.

Perspective twists, and time resumes...

* * *

_“You'd better come look at this.”_

_The lookout's voice was shocked, and Yuri was at the door in a flash. His eyes widened as he stared out across the valley, the vantage point of the building providing a clear view almost to the tree line. “What the fuck” he breathed, then recovered himself. “Get Yakov, now!”_

_Walking along the path of the river, completely ignoring the merciless heat of the sun, was a single figure. Short and male, judging by the shoulders-to-waist ratio, Yuri could just about see a light tan and brunette hair. The stranger was carrying a travelling bag and dressed in ill-fitting clothes, too big and hanging off his slender frame, scorched and smoking in patches from the vast heat. As Yuri watched, he walked past a patch of smouldering grass and stubbed it out with his foot before it could become a real fire._

_“How... how is he alive” Yuri murmured, as Yakov joined him at the door. The magical barrier across the unfinished arch kept the heat out, but allowed them to clearly see the progress of the stranger as he made his way up the valley._

_“He's either insanely tough, or has some type of regeneration ability” Yakov mused._

_“Dangerous then” Yuri frowned, easing his fingers into the enchanted knuckle dusters he always kept in his pockets. “Will he be able to get in?”_

_“Unlikely” Yakov shrugged. Lowering his voice so only Yuri could hear, he added “if he does, you distract him so Lilia can contain him._

_“Understood.”_

_“E... excuse me! Sorry to trespass but i-is this Illforte House?”_

_Yuri blinked, tilting his head. The man's voice was deep and rich, speaking in strongly accented Russian. Beside him, Yakov raised an impassive eyebrow._

_“I was told I might find sanctuary here” the stranger continued, cresting the brow of the hill. Closer, Yuri could see fully lips and high cheekbones, with dark, angular eyes. He realised he was holding his breath, and exhaled sharply. Next to him, the warlock chuckled knowingly and gave him a nudge._

_“Invite him in, Yuri. You're responsible for him until he's been checked out.”_

_The barrier over the doorway glittered as Yakov adjusted it to allow the newcomer inside. Stepping into the shade of the building, the man winced and ran his hands through his hair, sighing with relief. “Thank you... it's hot out there today.”_

_“H-hot? It's over 120 degrees Fahrenheit! You should be dead” Yuri snapped, thrusting a canteen of water at the stranger. Taking it gratefully, he tipped his head back and drank, and the blonde found his eyes fixed on a drop of water that ran down the length of his neck. Shaking himself, Yuri sent the curious onlookers packing with a wave of his hand, leading the stranger to the side of the room to an empty bunk. “You can sleep here for now. Do you have a name?”_

_“Otabek Altin” the brunette dropped gratefully onto the bed and handed the canteen back, and Yuri realised he'd politely left enough inside for another drink._

_“Finish it, you need it. Altin... how did you hear about this place?”_

_“I met a... creature... higher in the mountains who said you took in... unusual people. I needed somewhere to go... somewhere safe.”_

_Folding his arms, Yuri noted the downcast shift of Otabek's eyes and the tension in his shoulders. “Safe for you, or from you” he demanded, and the smaller man flinched._

_“Both... although I'm only dangerous at certain times... it's fine as long as I can be c-contained...”_

_“You're a werewolf.” It wasn't a question, but Otabek shook his head._

_“Similar... but not quite. I'm a weretiger.” Noticing the stunned look on Yuri's face, he grimaced. “I would show you but I can't c-control myself at the moment...”_

_“Have you ever killed anyone?” The blonde's voice was calm but his tone brooked no nonsense, and Otabek nodded, scrubbing a tear from his cheeks as he bowed his head. The guilt he felt over the admission was clear, and Yuri chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. “OK. We can give you a place, and contain you during the full moon... but you'll have to agree to our terms.”_

_The weretiger's face lit up with hope and he jumped to his feet, eyes huge. “You'll... you'll help me? I... I don't have to worry about hurting anyone?”_

_“The terms are harsh” Yuri warned. “If you break them and kill someone, the punishment will be worse than death for you. It's an effective deterrent for people wanting to use this place as a source of prey...” he flushed as Otabek lunged forward, gripping his shoulders as fresh tears ran down his face._

_“Good! I... I don't want to kill anyone ever again! I'll agree to whatever you want, just please... please help me...”_

_“Alright Altin... alright.” The weretiger slumped into his arms and a fierce protectiveness flooded the witch. Holding him gently, he rubbed his shoulders soothingly as the smaller man trembled against him. “It's OK... I've got you” he murmured against his scalp, and the weretiger sighed in relief...._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for sticking with me on this 18 month journey. Your comments and support have been wonderful, and I'm so grateful that you enjoy my work. 
> 
> I always knew how this story would end. Although it's not "happily ever after", I hope you find it satisfying, and aren't too angry with me! Please feel free to shout at me in the comments, either way <3
> 
> My fanfiction will be taking a backseat for a while as I have started publishing my original fiction online! Themes are the usual Silvandar mix of angst, fluff, erotica and lgbtq+ content, and so far I have one completed work and one serialised work being released weekly. 
> 
> Sacrifice (complete) - a supernatural thriller featuring a cast of criminals, angels, demons and secret societies.
> 
> Elfheart (new chapters released weekly) - a BL fantasy, in which elves and humans are dragged into an ancient war between sibling gods. 
> 
> [Read both on Wattpad for free!](https://www.wattpad.com/story/218138515-elfheart) I hope you enjoy it as much as my fan work.
> 
> Until next time, take care and stay safe <3 and thank you again for your support of my work.

**Author's Note:**

> I draw a lot of tiger inspiration from the wonderful videos by [Big Cat Derek](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC10bxQVVz1dJSIUC-f5hJdA) and the CARE Rescue Texas team. If you love big cats, check them out! 
> 
> This story is part of the [ LLF Comment Project ](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject) which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
> Short comments  
> Long comments  
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> readers talking to each other!
> 
> I reply to all comments eventually!
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Links](https://linktr.ee/artofsilvandar) to my online accounts  
> I love talking to people, so please follow me on Twitter or Tumblr!
> 
> * * *
> 
> Some of my other fics you might enjoy:  
> ["Bratva on Ice"](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1173482) my Otayuri Mafia AU  
> Canon based Kink!Otayuri fans[ click here!](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1144475)  
> Vampire/Nephilim OtaYuri AU[ A Kiss To Remember](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1197235) Winner of NaNoWriMo 2018  
> Multi fandom [drabbles and one-shots](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1298186)  
> Visit the [Legacy Discord](https://discord.gg/Nc6PKeP) to chat about the fic  
> 


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